Click HERE to see this thread with all of the graphics, features, and links.

https://www.ign.com/articles/2019/06/07/fromsoftware-and-george-rr-martin-collaboration-allegedly-leaked-e3-2019

Those rumors of GRRM collaborating with FromSoftware are growing larger by the week. I dismissed them as BS when they started circulating a few months ago.



There have been a ton of phenomenal games getting announced recently, so I'm hoping the streak keeps up to this. I'm cautiously optimistic for E3 this next week.

**** this. GRRM better get back to finishing up TWOW instead of "writing" for a game.

Honestly idgaf anymore. I'll read the hell out of it when it comes out but the show already spoiled the ending. ASoIaF is out of sight and mind now. There are other books I can read.

Anyway, here's the poster:

https://i.imgur.com/S57kBay.png

Love From Soft and Sekiro turned out to be fantastic but holy shit, write the phucking book.

2enbYOMtR4I

There's leaked year old gameplay footage of the the game floating around on the internet

apparently there's going to be a much better looking trailer released this month.

Just what we need, another f'ing Dark Souls clone. 😣

Originally posted by cdtm
Just what we need, another f'ing Dark Souls clone. 😣 It is in fact what we need. What we don't need is more storywork by GRRM the river-man.

I saw the leaked footage, it looks a little bit raw, but promising. The exploration kind of has an RDR vibe.

Originally posted by Khazra Reborn
I saw the leaked footage, it looks a little bit raw, but promising. The exploration kind of has an RDR vibe. It's a really old trailer they made from an earlier build that was supposed to be for internal use only. This was never supposed to be seen by us, and it's likely had a ton of polish since.

Originally posted by cdtm
Just what we need, another f'ing Dark Souls clone. 😣 Hell yeah, that is EXACTLY what I need. They can keep pumping this gold into my veins until the day I'm too decrepit to pick up a controller. It'll always be day 1.

Originally posted by cdtm
Just what we need, another f'ing Dark Souls clone. 😣

How can it be a Dark Souls clone when Hidetaka Miyazaki is also involved with it.

Originally posted by cdtm
Just what we need, another f'ing Dark Souls clone. 😣
Exactly, it's just so superior that every other genre is ruined now.

Need my FROM fix.

71HHtVh0Jdo

Hell ya.

I'm ready.

There is Elden Ring gameplay for Gamescom but it's exclusive to journalists and can't be shared. Nothing weird there.

A counterpoint.....sometimes showing unfinished gameplay to the public can have the opposite effect on what they want to accomplish.

Just look at the shitstorm Halo Infinite had when the released that gameplay video last year....

Why would they want to show a gameplay video if it's not finished graphically to the public when the majority of opinions would probably be negative....it takes a lot of time for companies to make these videos/demos and ensure it's equal to the finished product so if they dont want to spend time doing that...(and I heard its like a month to make these type of demos)....they cant really show it to the public.

Well, them not showing new footage gave us a ton of memes to enjoy at least.

I heard some journalist says the footage will be released to the public soon though. Whatever "soon" means is unclear though.

I normally don't give AF, and am content to just wait for the game to drop. I'm just SO ready my for next Souls fix. Some Souls clones are admittedly pretty neat, but they can only fill the void for so long.

As long as they show something prior to release.

I'm a bit intrigued because supposedly this game is open world, similarly to Zelda....
I'm not a huge fan of From Software games but that's just a personal preference.

Originally posted by Smasandian
A counterpoint.....sometimes showing unfinished gameplay to the public can have the opposite effect on what they want to accomplish.

Just look at the shitstorm Halo Infinite had when the released that gameplay video last year....

Why would they want to show a gameplay video if it's not finished graphically to the public when the majority of opinions would probably be negative....it takes a lot of time for companies to make these videos/demos and ensure it's equal to the finished product so if they dont want to spend time doing that...(and I heard its like a month to make these type of demos)....they cant really show it to the public.

To be fair, it's not like Infinite showed snippets of gameplay like Elden Ring did a couple months ago before it's gameplay presentation (Halo's).

If nothing else, they coulda provided a shorter version of what they gave those journalists or something, some glimpse and not a description by IGN. I actually listened and it was awful. Them, not the game I mean.

I'm looking forward to Elden Ring. Eversince I played Bloodborne I've been waiting for another new IP by them I can get behind. I'd try Dark Souls but I feel I'm late to that party.

Originally posted by Smasandian
As long as they show something prior to release.

I'm a bit intrigued because supposedly this game is open world, similarly to Zelda....
I'm not a huge fan of From Software games but that's just a personal preference.
I mostly only like their Soulsborne titles. I'm wasn't ever into other FromSoftware games, like Armored Core or Otogi.

I actually cringed a little bit when I heard it was open world. It's not that I hate open world per se, but it so often involves things I generally hate in video games. They've earned my trust though, and I'm banking on them not stumbling into the typical open world pitfalls.

I don't want resources blown on some silly lifeskills mechanics, where I have to cook moron stew for some moron in the town of Dorkshire, just to get a robe that lets me get back to the actual game I was trying to play. I don't want spend 8 hours mining dildo fragments to make dildo ingots either.

Originally posted by Nemesis X
I'm looking forward to Elden Ring. Eversince I played Bloodborne I've been waiting for another new IP by them I can get behind. I'd try Dark Souls but I feel I'm late to that party.
It's never too late to get into Souls.

It got delayed to February 25th.

https://www.ign.com/articles/elden-ring-delayed-february-closed-network-test-demo-beta-register

Have we seen gameplay yet?

I wouldn't be surprised this gets delayed again mid-summer.

Just this.

MWfdhS-g8To

Hmm, leaked gameplay....I will be surprised if it does get released early next year.

Preview starts at 14:04.

JldMvQMO_5U

Looks good.

Open-world Dark Souls?

Dark Souls was open-ended, this is looking more open-world.

Yeah, it appears mechanically similar to Souls + Sekiro, but with an open world.

Being a magic user, I'm pumped about the new spells. Looks like the player fired off a sorcery version of Lightning Arrow, but with 3 arrows. And another spell looked like a massive upgrade to Crystal Hail.

And it appears Soul Stream from DS3 is returning, which awesome. Feels so great to blast enemies with a kamehameha.

I've always been curious about how Dark Souls could implement summoning magic too, and I'm intrigued by the examples in the video. I wonder if you'll be able to build a pure summoner character, and play that way. I like that the summonings seemed like a coordinated, focused attack from the spirits, almost like a spell.

And the casting animations look a bit smoother and more organic now too.

I hope we get better looking casting tools too. The staves are all ugly AF in DS3. In DS2 we had the Staff of Wisdom, which actually looks magical. And the Sunset Staff's floating and rotating parts really added an arcane feel to it. We need more stuff like that.

I am so hyped for this game, inject it straight into my face

Can't wait. This looks awesome.

But can the horse dodge roll?

Seeing great things from the network test gameplay. It's sure looking like FromSoft is going to crank out another GOAT contender.

Originally posted by StyleTime
I've always been curious about how Dark Souls could implement summoning magic too, and I'm intrigued by the examples in the video. I wonder if you'll be able to build a pure summoner character, and play that way. I like that the summonings seemed like a coordinated, focused attack from the spirits, almost like a spell.
Looks like summons operate similarly to Hunter tools from Bloodborne. They're unlimited-use consumables that use FP. The catch seems to be that you can only summon in certain zones.

Very hyped fpr this game. If it wasn't for From Software games i don't know what i would do.

The game mechanics seem like a cross between dark souls and sekiro

https://www.google.com/amp/s/marketresearchtelecast.com/pre-orders-of-the-collectors-edition-of-elden-ring-suspended/228493/amp/

Bandai Namco had to suspend pre-orders of the Premium Collector's Edition due to demand being too high.

OT8if6DXOFQ

Y'all ready for another decade in gaming to peak at the very start again? FROM sure is.

I'm completely disgusted by StyleTime changing his signature

Well, I probably won't have it for long. It was mostly a joke centering around a recent comic event I hated.

Seems like most of the starter classes have been revealed. I will almost certainly be going Astrologer and Prophet mostly on my playthroughs, as I need my fireballs and lasers and lighting and such. The Prisoner seems reminiscent of the Royal from Demon's Souls, so I might roll with that depending on starting equipment. The Royal had that MP regen ring that was sweet for exploring.

https://i.postimg.cc/7ZS6DwSf/elden-ring-classi-01-1.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/pV0Pty70/elden-ring-classi-01.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/vTmMVd1L/iuvoiubn.png

Full class list is here with stats and equipment, although I recommend ignoring the network test list. I doubt they will be in the final game tbh.

https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Classes

Yeah, that's all of them. I'm thinking of running either a Vagabond geared towards STR/INT, or a Confessor geared towards DEX/FAITH... haven't decided which yet. A Samurai with a quality-build sounds nice too, but I'll leave that for a future playthrough, because I definitely want to try out ER's magic systems in my first go-round.

It's the weapon skills that might get me to experiment a bit. I said it before, but I've been a career spellcaster through all the Soulsborne games, even going for an Arcane build in Bloodborne.

All these new weaponskills look pretty cool though, and might give me a reason to take up more melee builds. Glintsword Arch seems like a budget version of Homing Soulmass/Homing Crystal Soulmass for melee builds.

And skills like Holy Ground might help priest or paladin builds a lot. I ran a full support build as one of my co-op characters in DS3 (Filianore's Chime, Lothric War Banner, Soothing Sunlight, Sacred Oath, Projected Heal, Handmaid's Dagger/Simple Infused Caestus for extra FP regen, etc).

It works for co-op once people realize you're buffing/healing them, but sometimes newer players will panic chug their Estus and don't see that you already healed their health bar. This new Holy Ground weapon skill takes the guesswork out, since it is more easily identified. You can just drop a regen zone rather than having to aim Projected Heal or blow tons of FP on Soothing Sunlight (That spell is expensive, even for dedicated miracle caster builds using Dusk Crown Ring.)

Of course, the PvPer's will probably abuse this then complain until it gets nerfed. Same way they complained about Projected Heal until FROM changed it.

Lol it's been 7 years since I bought a From game day 1. I can't wait.

At first I was thinking of trying a fist build but fist weapons aren't returning for this it seems looking at the lists nor does increasing strength and dexterity affect your punches that much (if at all) going by what people did in the network tests. Shame 'cause the flurry of punches in this look amusing.

That Ring is looking pretty Elden to me.

Originally posted by StyleTime
It's the weapon skills that might get me to experiment a bit. All these new weaponskills look pretty cool though, and might give me a reason to take up more melee builds. Glintsword Arch seems like a budget version of Homing Soulmass/Homing Crystal Soulmass for melee builds.
Yeah, but weapon arts are tied to infusions now. Applying sorcery and miracle-type weapon arts to a weapon will change that weapon's scaling to INT or FAITH respectively. To a certain extent you'll still need to choose which class of magic will be your focus ahead of time.

That launch trailer though.

https://www.nerfnow.com/comic/3041

Originally posted by NewGuy01
Yeah, but weapon arts are tied to infusions now. Applying sorcery and miracle-type weapon arts to a weapon will change that weapon's scaling to INT or FAITH respectively. To a certain extent you'll still need to choose which class of magic will be your focus ahead of time.
Certainly. I usually plan out my builds ahead of times. I meant moreso that I have a bit more interest in trying a few extra non-caster builds, assuming the weapon skills are cool enough.

I usually reserve a character slot for a Greatshield/Greathammer character with heavy armor, since flattening enemies and laughing off full combos from bosses is fun. This might get me to try more than just that type of melee though.

See lots of veteran reviewers clocking their first playthroughs at 80+ hours... the prospect of running multiple builds feels both exciting and daunting.

Also, PC is apparently not the way to go for this one. Even up-to-date builds run worse than the 2014 consoles, or so I've heard.

Is Prisoner the best way to go if you want to make a hybrid?

The game is apparently optimized pretty terribly across the board. The performace mode on ps5/Series X can't even hit 60 fps, and the quality mode stupidly doesn't support a locked 30 fps, but hovers around 32 or 33 fps on current gen consoles.

Originally posted by Nemesis X
Is Prisoner the best way to go if you want to make a hybrid?
A hybrid of what and what...? Dex and Int? Maybe. Astrologer actually might be slightly better, since it has a lower starting level iirc. Well, the most important difference between the two is going to be their starting equipment anyways.

Originally posted by BackFire
The game is apparently optimized pretty terribly across the board. The performance mode on ps5/Series X can't even hit 60 fps,
Running at <60fps doesn't qualify as poor performance to me, as long as it's consistent. Bloodborne proves that the fastest-paced of these games can still be played comfortably at 30, so as far as I'm concerned anything above that is a bonus. What concerns me more is the reports of periodic, sharp framerate drops like in DS1.

Highest rated game of all time bois.

Lets gooooooo

Originally posted by Nemesis X
Is Prisoner the best way to go if you want to make a hybrid?
Depends on what kind of hybrid you're going for. On paper it does look like Confessor and Prisoner were made as the hybrid starters, so they're safe bets. This early on, people are still figuring out soft/hard caps for stats though. Sometimes, the optimal starter for a certain build winds up being an unexpected class. Nothing that would prevent you from clearing the game of course, and it matters less the higher you level. I say just enjoy your first playthrough doing whatever you want.

Although, I'd recommend being wary of spreading stats too thin. If DSIII is any indicator, the various schools of magic require a good deal of investment to see optimal returns.

I think that's why folks complained about sorcery/miracles/dark/pyro in DSIII. They thought it was too resource intensive, but in reality, it just required you to spec yourself like an actual mage to see real results -- tons of ATT, INT/FTH, 3-4 relevant rings and sometimes unique headgear.

Originally posted by NewGuy01
Running at <60fps doesn't qualify as poor performance to me, as long as it's consistent. Bloodborne proves that the fastest-paced of these games can still be played comfortably at 30, so as far as I'm concerned anything above that is a bonus. What concerns me more is the reports of periodic, sharp framerate drops like in DS1.

That's the thing, it's not consistent. Varying between 40-60 fps on the PS5/Series X in performance mode, and varying at lower framerates in quality mode. Also the frame pacing is also bad, but that's par the course for From Software games. They just seem very bad at optimizing their games.

I have it downloaded. I'm going to bed early then waking up and going straight to playing.

I genuinely haven't been this excited about a game in a long time. It's like that feeling you get on Christmas Eve when you're a kid.

Originally posted by Arachnid1
Highest rated game of all time bois.

Lets gooooooo

It feels like everyone on Twitch is streaming it too. From Vtubers to irl streamers to pro gamers. Viewership numbers blew every other FROM title out the water, and it wasn't even fully released yet.

I spent the whole night yesterday fighting the first boss (the one you're supposed to die to) restarting and fighting him again. But I did it.

https://i.imgur.com/YMItlOwm.jpg

You could safely hit him with magic, but you only had 12 casts and if you managed to hit each one (not miss or have it blocked) it would add up to 1,008 damage, which meant you had 1,592 HP left to get through with the short sword which has no range and deals abyssal damage (takes 33 two-handed hits).

Out of the "starting bosses/enemies you're supposed to die to" I think this is the hardest one, since he's so ****ing fast, he can reach across half the map, and any minor frame rate hick-up or him getting his weapons bounced off the wall will screw you over. Sure the Asylum Demon takes a long time to kill bare-handed, but you can do it reliably. This guy I still feel that I need multiple tries on.

Originally posted by Astner
I spent the whole night yesterday fighting the first boss (the one you're supposed to die to) restarting and fighting him again. But I did it.

https://i.imgur.com/YMItlOwm.jpg

You could safely hit him with magic, but you only had 12 casts and if you managed to hit each one (not miss or have it blocked) it would add up to 1,008 damage, which meant you had 1,592 HP left to get through with the short sword which has no range and deals abyssal damage (takes 33 two-handed hits).

Out of the "starting bosses/enemies you're supposed to die to" I think this is the hardest one, since he's so ****ing fast, he can reach across half the map, and any minor frame rate hick-up or him getting his weapons bounced off the wall will screw you over. Sure the Asylum Demon takes a long time to kill bare-handed, but you can do it reliably. This guy I still feel that I need multiple tries on.

Do you get anything for killing him?

Originally posted by Nemesis X
At first I was thinking of trying a fist build but fist weapons aren't returning for this it seems looking at the lists nor does increasing strength and dexterity affect your punches that much (if at all) going by what people did in the network tests. Shame 'cause the flurry of punches in this look amusing.
Fist weapons are in.

Originally posted by Khazra Reborn
Do you get anything for killing him?
His dual swords and a shield...and 3,200 souls runes but those are left on your bloodstain when you die shortly after.

Maybe there's a way to get back there to retrieve those runes later (assuming you don't die until then), but at that point I'm not sure if the 3,200 runes would mean too much.

Beat that Tree Sentinel. I didn't know he could absorb and reflect your magic back at you at first.

It was fun though, even while I was getting slapped. I though he had a cool mechanic.

Is anyone playing on PS5?

Originally posted by Badabing
Is anyone playing on PS5?
I am. Add me.

https://card.psnprofiles.com/2/Paleblood.png

As of now I'm still figuring things out.

Originally posted by StyleTime
Fist weapons are in.

Yee

Originally posted by Badabing
Is anyone playing on PS5?
I don't have a PS5 yet. Probably just going to wait on the PS5 slim.

These knights in Stormveil are something else.

Holy **** all I did was kill some rats, open a chest and suddenly I'm transported to some trypophobic hellscape.

I know exactly the one you mean. If you didn't find it already btw, there actually is a legit chest very nearby to that fake one. The contents of which have been my primary weapon for the past few hours...

Not sure how I feel about the teleportation trap chests. On one hand it's a neat sneak-peak of late-game areas... on the other hand, all the ones I've encountered are really easy to escape, so I'm just left feeling mildly inconvenienced having to run back to whatever I was doing.

Two giant machetes, claustrophobic boss arena, and dog adds... how dare you Miyazaki, tricking me into fighting the Capra Demon again.

Is there a white soapstone for this game? The only thing I've found is that finger that costs a 1000 per use.

It should be the Tarnished's Furled Finger. I dunno if it costs anything to use, but it doesn't take long for 1000 to not count as much at all.

Originally posted by Badabing
Is there a white soapstone for this game? The only thing I've found is that finger that costs a 1000 per use.
Same thing with the invasion fingers. Bought five from a vendor, and got five from the sketchy dude from the beginning.

Also everyone I invade seem to be playing co-op, and if that wasn't enough they summon in a third guy. Well you get Rune Arcs for killing hosts, not sure what those do yet.

You can't be invaded in ER unless you already have a buddy summoned. Deliberate duels are the exception.

The snipers...

Anyone playing a caster? I've never tried doing so and am tempted to reroll a new character and play Astrologer.

Originally posted by NewGuy01
It should be the Tarnished's Furled Finger. I dunno if it costs anything to use, but it doesn't take long for 1000 to not count as much at all. Originally posted by Astner
Same thing with the invasion fingers. Bought five from a vendor, and got five from the sketchy dude from the beginning.

Also everyone I invade seem to be playing co-op, and if that wasn't enough they summon in a third guy. Well you get Rune Arcs for killing hosts, not sure what those do yet. Thanks. I found the item and ingredients to make the Tarnished's Furled Finger. It's easy.

Does anyone know the location of the Ashes of War jump attack?

This game is expansive. I love the free roaming. That's one of the things which makes DS1 my favorite of the Souls series.

Originally posted by ares834
Anyone playing a caster? I've never tried doing so and am tempted to reroll a new character and play Astrologer.
My idea was to go int/faith then I saw the stat requirements on some of the spell and decided to just level int instead. I'll probably re-roll after I've finished, since Carian Phalanx seems to be the only viable PvP spell. Even then it's not as good as Homing Soul Mass from DS3 (which cost no mana and was cast almost instantly).

As for the PvE only the starting spell (Glintstone Pebble) is viable, it's the most damage you'll per FP. And sometimes the boss will have a pixel left and you're out of FP and Cerulean flasks. This happened when I fought the first Glintstone Dragon, and so I had to finish it off with throwing weapons. To be fair it does trivialize a lot of bosses, especially when you get your summons out.

Originally posted by Badabing
Does anyone know the location of the Ashes of War jump attack?
Are you referring to a particular jump attack? Because you can just follow up a jump with an R2.

Did anyone else feel like Godrick was way easier than Margit?

Beat Godrick in a couple of tries, but Margit beat the absolute piss out of me over and over before figuring him out.

Looks like I'm getting Flask-charged after killing a few enemies after the recent update.

Originally posted by StyleTime
Did anyone else feel like Godrick was way easier than Margit?

Beat Godrick in a couple of tries, but Margit beat the absolute piss out of me over and over before figuring him out.
Both on the first try, although I used wolf summons and spells so I cheesed them.

Originally posted by Astner
My idea was to go int/faith then I saw the stat requirements on some of the spell and decided to just level int instead. I'll probably re-roll after I've finished, since Carian Phalanx seems to be the only viable PvP spell. Even then it's not as good as Homing Soul Mass from DS3 (which cost no mana and was cast almost instantly).

As for the PvE only the starting spell (Glintstone Pebble) is viable, it's the most damage you'll per FP. And sometimes the boss will have a pixel left and you're out of FP and Cerulean flasks. This happened when I fought the first Glintstone Dragon, and so I had to finish it off with throwing weapons. To be fair it does trivialize a lot of bosses, especially when you get your summons out.


Are you referring to a particular jump attack? Because you can just follow up a jump with an R2. I wasn't sure if there was a special attack that could be obtained. Originally posted by StyleTime
Did anyone else feel like Godrick was way easier than Margit?

Beat Godrick in a couple of tries, but Margit beat the absolute piss out of me over and over before figuring him out. I haven't fought Margit yet. I used a summons with Godrick and won.

I found this turtle shell shield. It has 100% physical block, high attack absorption and stamina regeneration.

Oh? Was it possible to fight Godrick without fighting Margit first?

Does anyone know if Ranni's questline gets locked after you kill Rennala? Yeeted myself after the second phase cutscene just in case...

Okay so before I decide to get this, where does it stand in the echelon of Souls-like Fromsoft? (how good is it?)

Is it up there with Bloodborne and Dark Souls 1, or is it more in the realm of Souls 2, or somewhere in between?

Originally posted by NewGuy01
Oh? Was it possible to fight Godrick without fighting Margit first? I'll have to check my game. I still don't know the characters well enough to be certain.Originally posted by Jmanghan
Okay so before I decide to get this, where does it stand in the echelon of Souls-like Fromsoft? (how good is it?)

Is it up there with Bloodborne and Dark Souls 1, or is it more in the realm of Souls 2, or somewhere in between? DS1 is my favorite Souls game. Right now I'm enjoying Elden Ring as much as I enjoyed DS1 when I first played it.

Let's put it like this:

If Vladimir Putin had a copy of Elden Ring, he wouldn't be such a complete @sshole.

Originally posted by Jmanghan
Okay so before I decide to get this, where does it stand in the echelon of Souls-like Fromsoft? (how good is it?)

Is it up there with Bloodborne and Dark Souls 1, or is it more in the realm of Souls 2, or somewhere in between?
It's in contention for the best of their lineup, no question. It's also much bigger than all the others; I'm 34 hours in and have only cleared two of the seven? eight? major dungeons. Though that's in part because I've prioritized exploration over completion; I have opened up almost all of the major areas on the mapS.

Originally posted by ares834
Anyone playing a caster? I've never tried doing so and am tempted to reroll a new character and play Astrologer.
I am.

Do you enjoy the caster play style though? If not, but you just want an extra ranged option, might be better to go with a Bow/Crossbow/Greatbow/Ballista.
Originally posted by Astner
Looks like I'm getting Flask-charged after killing a few enemies after the recent update.

Both on the first try, although I used wolf summons and spells so I cheesed them.
Originally posted by Badabing
I wasn't sure if there was a special attack that could be obtained. I haven't fought Margit yet. I used a summons with Godrick and won.

I found this turtle shell shield. It has 100% physical block, high attack absorption and stamina regeneration.
Ah, I haven't used summons yet. The masochist in me always makes me play solo the first time through. Probably why I got stomped so hard.
Originally posted by Jmanghan
Okay so before I decide to get this, where does it stand in the echelon of Souls-like Fromsoft? (how good is it?)

Is it up there with Bloodborne and Dark Souls 1, or is it more in the realm of Souls 2, or somewhere in between?
I'd go with secret answer C -- it's up there with Dark Souls 3.

Dark Souls 3 was my personal favorite, so I give it a high rating.

Originally posted by NewGuy01
Oh? Was it possible to fight Godrick without fighting Margit first?
Apparently. I got into the Roundtable Hold after killing Margit, but you can get in there through other progress.

Originally posted by Jmanghan
Okay so before I decide to get this, where does it stand in the echelon of Souls-like Fromsoft? (how good is it?)

Is it up there with Bloodborne and Dark Souls 1, or is it more in the realm of Souls 2, or somewhere in between?
Difficult to say, since it's not been out for too long. But I'm guessing it's up there with Dark Souls.

Dark Souls, (Elden Ring)
Bloodborne, Demon's Souls
Dark Souls III, Demon's Souls Remake
Dark Souls II, Dark Souls II: SOTFS

Originally posted by Astner
His dual swords and a shield...and 3,200 souls runes but those are left on your bloodstain when you die shortly after.

Maybe there's a way to get back there to retrieve those runes later (assuming you don't die until then), but at that point I'm not sure if the 3,200 runes would mean too much.
Just found this area again. It's the little grey/blue island west of Stormveil. There's a unique spirit bell summon here too. What other than the grafted scion could have killed you, though?

God the festival is so damn cool. I wonder how much of the participation depends on your encountering people in your playthrough.

Originally posted by NewGuy01
Just found this area again. It's the little grey/blue island west of Stormveil. There's a unique spirit bell summon here too. What other than the grafted scion could have killed you, though?
Past his area there's a cliff that collapses when you step on it.

It's kind of bullshit since in Demon's Souls they let you keep the souls you get for killing Vanguard.

Originally posted by Astner
Past his area there's a cliff that collapses when you step on it.

It's kind of bullshit since in Demon's Souls they let you keep the souls you get for killing Vanguard.
Ahh, come to think of it, I did come across that... I just got it backwards, thought we came at the boss from that direction.

I'll probably end up maining a dex build, saw this video while at work, and it looks like a PvP weapon to me (reach and speed).

5dzROiSZtfU

So I'm guessing a level 49 Vagabond with 18/10/11/16/48/9/9/7, might level it up later if the invasion mechanics don't allow for match-ups with upgraded weapons.

The Rennala fight was beautiful, as well as the Sofria River Bank.

I haven't been able to do much this week. I've just been roaming about, collecting maps and doing small side quests. I have to wait for the weekend or try to take a half day off this week.

Originally posted by Badabing
I haven't been able to do much this week. I've just been roaming about, collecting maps and doing small side quests. I have to wait for the weekend or try to take a half day off this week.
Yeah, work ****ing sucks right now. Get home, take a shower, eat dinner, and you've got like 2 hours to play before you need to go to sleep.

Rerolled with a Vagabond class character because the mage was boring as **** and had no PvP potential. The Grafted Scion was a lot easier with a shield that didn't leak through half the damage. All you really had to do is pull it up and backpeddle until he leaves an opening and only dodge when his swords are buffed. Speaking of which, I got to try out the Grafted Scion's swords now too, turns out they suck. They had less base damage and scaling than the ****ing longsword, and the weapon art (which buffs the wepaon for half a minute) takes forever to activate making it terrible in combat.

The plan is to go with the Bloodhound's Fang curved greatsword that I just got because the moveset is sick.

So today I found the lovechild of Lost Izalith and Valley of Defilement... I feel like this level would be unplayable if I didn't have the anti-rot incantation.

So my main PvP build is probably going to be a level 100 Hero 60/-/-/-/52(60*)/-/12/-

*Okina mask gives +3 dex, Millicent's Protesis talisman gives +5 dex.

Then I'll have enough room for Erdtree Favor +2 talisman, and Crimson Amber Medallion +2 talisman.

The faith is for Bloodflame Blade incantation. Last longer than Bloodgrease and does extra damage.

Maybe I'll need to do something about the stamina and focus, but I doubt it's the case since they both seem fairly excessive in PvP even at base.

People at Ubisoft and Guerilla are attacking this game on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/GamesNosh/status/1500217416558821385

haermm

Originally posted by Nemesis X
People at Ubisoft and Guerilla are attacking this game on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/GamesNosh/status/1500217416558821385

haermm
Criticizing the quest structure is definitely valid, don't act like you're not going on YouTube and Fextralife to figure things out.

Nah been pretty much running around aimlessly on where to go. One of the best experiences to have when playing a new open world game.

So far lately I've beaten the first boss at Stormveil, went back and took care of the Tree Sentinel. and decided while there Varre had to go. Shady AF he was.

The problem with some of the quests is that you're meant to meet up with characters in multiple locations without any in-game knowledge of their whereabouts, which considering the size of the map and the ambiguity of whether or not a character is tied to a quest makes it more annoying than i needs to be.

It's a great game, and it will probably end up being my favorite. But let's not pretend it's without flaws.

You shouldn't pretend that in their positions, the devs aren't being unprofessional. It's fair to criticize but posts like Salama's carry the same energy as how a person you beat in a game online sends a message full of sassy insults. Dude's just peeved this is the second time in a row Horizon's launched around some competition.

Originally posted by Nemesis X
Dude's just peeved this is the second time in a row Horizon's launched around some competition.
Probably, but that doesn't make his criticism any less valid.

Originally posted by Astner
Probably, but that doesn't make his criticism any less valid.

Neither does it make him less a sore loser.

Comet Azur has been an interesting improvement on DS3's Soul Stream. I thought the decreased range would be a problem, but it feels like a good way of implementing a big mage nuke in an action game. Practice your positioning and timing, and it's surprising what you can melt with your giant energy beam. I actually 4-shotted Radahn with it.

I don't think Comet Azur needed to take up 3 ****ing memory slots though.

I have switched to all the Legendary and later sorceries at this point for general use though. Rennala's Full Moon, and Loretta's Greatbow, have been excellent long range tools. Stars of Ruin covers the obnoxiously mobile enemies that dodge spells constantly, and regular Comet is there for enemies who survive your long range burst. There are situations where I need other spells, but these have been putting in a lot of work. I still need a few more, like Founding Rain of Stars and Ranni's Dark Moon, but it's nice to finally be out of the Terra Magicus + Loretta's Greatbow pattern of the early-mid game.

I think I'll be doing multiple INT and FTH casters though, as there's just so many spells. I haven't really be able to experiment much with the Magma, Death, Cold, Blood spells, etc. It seems like Faith Incantations have just as many sub-types to work with too, so I'm excited to start my FTH caster.

Miracles were actually my favorite in DS3. They were just more fun than Sorceries, so I wonder how it'll be this time around.

Originally posted by StyleTime
I think I'll be doing multiple INT and FTH casters though, as there's just so many spells. I haven't really be able to experiment much with the Magma, Death, Cold, Blood spells, etc. It seems like Faith Incantations have just as many sub-types to work with too, so I'm excited to start my FTH caster.

I think these are all the categories:

INT: Glintstone, Carian/Glintblade, Stonedigger, Crystal, Invisible, Gravity, Cold, Primeval, Moon

INT+ARC: Bubble

FAITH: Two Fingers, Flame, Godslayer/Blackflame, Bloodthorn (Sorcery), Three Fingers/Frenzy, Dragoncult/Lightning, Poison/Rot, Darkness, Bestial, Erdtree

FAITH+ARC: Dragon Communion, Bloodflame

FAITH+INT: Fundamentalist (Incantations), Death (Sorceries), Magma (Sorceries)

Yeah, those sound about right.

Different casting tools to boost different different types too. It seems like spellblades are further differentiated from pure casters with these categories.

The Primeval and Moon sorceries require such a high stats investment, need tons of FP, and often encourage very long-range combat. It's hard to go for melee stats and still make use of them on a typical playthrough.

Not a problem for me, since I went full caster, but it could be disappointing if you're not into that. I can only speak for sorcery at the moment, but I imagine Incantations are similar.

All of the really devastating incantations I've come across are close-to-medium range.

Originally posted by NewGuy01
I think these are all the categories:

INT: Glintstone, Carian/Glintblade, Stonedigger, Crystal, Invisible, Gravity, Cold, Primeval, Moon

INT+ARC: Bubble

FAITH: Two Fingers, Flame, Godslayer/Blackflame, Bloodthorn (Sorcery), Three Fingers/Frenzy, Dragoncult/Lightning, Poison/Rot, Darkness, Bestial, Erdtree

FAITH+ARC: Dragon Communion, Bloodflame

FAITH+INT: Fundamentalist (Incantations), Death (Sorceries), Magma (Sorceries)
There's no real point in mixing Faith, Intelligence, and Arcane.

Go for either Faith or Intelligence and then get the bare minimum Arcane points you need to cast the spells you want. You technically don't even have to do that because the Silver Tear Mask gives +8 Arcane at the cost of physical damage...and if you're relying on spells then your physical damage doesn't really matter, since it's pretty much just fire or lightning.

In fact, Intelligence and Arcane is probably a bad idea overall since all of the sorceries that require Arcane are shit.

From what I've seen, going faith and Int is worth it just for the Sword of Night and Flame. Apparently, it's incredibly broken.

On a sorcery note, the high level spells seem incredibly underwhelming. Stuff like Rennala's Full Moon do about the same damage as three casts of Glinstone Icecrag. But not only are three casts of Icecrag cost significantly less from a mana perspective, but you can also get three casts of it in about the same time a single Moon. The only high level spell I've really found a use for is Comet Azur.

I'm doing 2 builds, a dedicated melee at level 80 right now and an int/faith build at level 40 right now.

Does anyone know reallocate stat points?

You can respec after beating Rennala. It'll cost 1 Larval Tear each time, although there seems to be a lot scattered throughout the game.

Originally posted by Astner
There's no real point in mixing Faith, Intelligence, and Arcane.
Nah, Faith+Arcane should be viable. There are several good dragon communion incantations, and the seal that has the +15% buff for those has B-scaling in Faith and S-scaling in Arcane when maxed.

I can't speak for the fundamentalist/death/magma spells themselves, since I haven't used them, but the same should apply to Faith+Intelligence builds. The prince of death's staff and the golden order seal both get A scaling in both Intelligence and Faith.

Given that most of the classes start with at least ~10 levels already invested in Faith or Intelligence or Arcane, I figure that gives their scaling a healthy head-start for single-stat casters of equal level to catch up to.

Originally posted by ares834
From what I've seen, going faith and Int is worth it just for the Sword of Night and Flame. Apparently, it's incredibly broken.
The Weapon Arts are more for PvE since they're inceadibly easy to avoid in PvP, but it is a straight sword and those are pretty quick.

Originally posted by StyleTime
You can respec after beating Rennala. It'll cost 1 Larval Tear each time, although there seems to be a lot scattered throughout the game.
They're dropped by enemies in Nokron, the Eternal City.

Originally posted by NewGuy01
Nah, Faith+Arcane should be viable. There are several good dragon communion incantations, and the seal that has the +15% buff for those has B-scaling in Faith and S-scaling in Arcane when maxed.
Saw this streamer, who made a Dragon-Faith build, not a single point invested in Arcane, instead he uses the Silver Tear Mask which gives +8 Arcane and reduces physical attack (which he doesn't use).

CV2aD2_SxZc

Skip to 1:15 where the explanation starts.

And you can off-hand the Dragon Communion Seal to recieve the 15% Dragon-spell boost and you don't actually have to use it (just keep the talisman you use in the main hand).

Placidusax's Ruin (which is supposedly the best dragon-spell) has a 36 Faith requirement so you might as well go all-in on the Faith. Unless you intend to over-level.

It seems the meta likely won't be in the 120-125 range this time around.

Originally posted by Adam Grimes
It seems the meta likely won't be in the 120-125 range this time around.
We'll see how it turns out. The game is still new, and in the initial theory-crafting phase people just max out all stats without testing things out. In Dark Souls 3 Endurance was pointless for PvP, but people still insisted that they had to dump 30 levels into it.

In this game Mind seems to be pointless for non-casters, and Endurance is only good for equip load. On top of that there's a ton of stat-increasing helmets.

I'm aiming for 100, power-stancing two Hand of Malenia, using Bloodflame on the left one and Bloodgrease on the right.

Hero class, level 100: 60/9/12/16/52/7/12/11, with the Okina Mask and the Millicent's Protesis talisman you get 60 dex, which leaves room for the Erdtree's Favor +2 and Crimson Amber Medallion +2, and you're optimized for PvP.

Maybe I'll stop at level 50 with 22 Vigor and 40 Dexterity for some early PvP.

Either way, it's a good idea to stay low level because you can always level up your character, but you can't level down.

I have to explore everything again. I've spent so much time doing side quests, caves and dungeons that I forgot where half the merchants are located, and I have no clue where I'm supposed to go after beating the first 2 bosses. dur

Yeah, I had to start marking the merchants on my map. And certain npcs and things. Too much stuff for me to memorize.

https://i.postimg.cc/j5k6Z4Py/bdr6iic8l6l81.png

Originally posted by Badabing
I have to explore everything again. I've spent so much time doing side quests, caves and dungeons that I forgot where half the merchants are located, and I have no clue where I'm supposed to go after beating the first 2 bosses. dur
Apparently you can kill the merchants and they'll drop their Bell Berries which can be given to the statue-merchant at the Roundtable Hold and it will sell their items. And if you kill all of them you'll come across an invader that drops yet another pebble for some extra items.

v2cy3KEf26g

Originally posted by Astner
I spent the whole night yesterday fighting the first boss (the one you're supposed to die to) restarting and fighting him again. But I did it.

https://i.imgur.com/YMItlOwm.jpg

You could safely hit him with magic, but you only had 12 casts and if you managed to hit each one (not miss or have it blocked) it would add up to 1,008 damage, which meant you had 1,592 HP left to get through with the short sword which has no range and deals abyssal damage (takes 33 two-handed hits).

Out of the "starting bosses/enemies you're supposed to die to" I think this is the hardest one, since he's so ****ing fast, he can reach across half the map, and any minor frame rate hick-up or him getting his weapons bounced off the wall will screw you over. Sure the Asylum Demon takes a long time to kill bare-handed, but you can do it reliably. This guy I still feel that I need multiple tries on. I've tried 4 times to beat this dude and I was planning on trying all night today but I'm also playing a astrologer and this sounds like way more work than I want to try to put in, so I'll probably just move on then. After tryharding in 2 for the last two months I plan on playing this game super casually. Summons, shields, magic. I refuse to get gud.

Originally posted by StyleTime
https://i.postimg.cc/j5k6Z4Py/bdr6iic8l6l81.png Originally posted by Astner
Apparently you can kill the merchants and they'll drop their Bell Berries which can be given to the statue-merchant at the Roundtable Hold and it will sell their items. And if you kill all of them you'll come across an invader that drops yet another pebble for some extra items.

v2cy3KEf26g Thanks for the tip. That makes it way easier. Those poor merchants are dying tonight.

Originally posted by Tzeentch
I've tried 4 times to beat this dude and I was planning on trying all night today but I'm also playing a astrologer and this sounds like way more work than I want to try to put in, so I'll probably just move on then.
I deleted my Astrologer, and rerolled as a Prophet. Defeated the Grafted Scion again in two tries.

There are strategies to bait out the right attacks that you can punish safely. More specifically: keep your distance until he starts running towards you, because then he'll follow up with one of three attacks: a poke, a jump and swing, or he'll stomp around. The stomp is very easy to punish.

Astrologer wasn't that bad because you can use your Glintstone Pebble spell to take out a third of his HP before taking any real risks.

Originally posted by Tzeentch
After tryharding in 2 for the last two months I plan on playing this game super casually. Summons, shields, magic. I refuse to get gud.
I'm not using any summons or Spirit Ashes with my current character.

But I do use a shield (because it's a good way to learn the bosses's movesets) and I do use the Bloodflame spell for extra bleed on the Bloodhound's Fang in case of dual bosses.

That said, my poise is pretty much nonexistent (8 Endurance) so my character falls flat on their back the moment she takes a hit. The arrow shower Radhan used literally knocked me off my horse and kept me on the ground while my HP whittled away from full to 0 (and I had 40 Vigor).

Originally posted by Tzeentch
I've tried 4 times to beat this dude and I was planning on trying all night today but I'm also playing a astrologer and this sounds like way more work than I want to try to put in, so I'll probably just move on then. After tryharding in 2 for the last two months I plan on playing this game super casually. Summons, shields, magic. I refuse to get gud.
Since you're still early in, Vanguard may be easier to start with if you want to use shields, similar to Knight in DS3. You can rush for the Brass Shield almost immediately, which has the Guard Boost(Stability) of a lower level Greatshield and 100% physical block. Confessor also can use it early, and starts with Incantations if you like Faith spells.

Unless you just enjoy Sorcery.

Summons are probably the biggest thing though. Videos of certain summons soloing bosses are already popping up, actually.

Just picked up Elden Stars, the highest faith-requirement incantation in the game. Somehow I think it's one of the weakest spells in my inventory. Considering a respec.

Beat Godrick with hookclaws. They're pretty good.

This game is much bigger than I imagined it would be.

Originally posted by Badabing
This game is much bigger than I imagined it would be. Idem. It's more quantity than Dark Souls 2 but also more quality than even DS3 lol.

I was curious to see if my incantation, Order's Blade, could stack on top of grease or my weapon's armament: War Cry. Can confirm that neither worked. Really should've seen that coming. At least incantations don't mess with a weapon's passive effect but not being able to purge things in holy fire makes me feel like less of a space marine.

I gave this build a try this morning. It's not bad.

oAU8UYCsvr4

Astrolger is just stupid OP in this game...

Sword of night and flame, comet azur + lvl 10 mimic makes all the bosses a piece of cake.

Originally posted by Estacado
Astrolger is just stupid OP in this game...

Sword of night and flame, comet azur + lvl 10 mimic makes all the bosses a piece of cake. I haven't leveled up enough for comet. What's a level 10 mimic?

Originally posted by Estacado
Astrolger is just stupid OP in this game...

Sword of night and flame, comet azur + lvl 10 mimic makes all the bosses a piece of cake.
I feel like it's moreso that the summons, Mimic in particular, are OP.

Solo mage is an entirely different experience, since there's nothing there to take aggro for you.

Well, and Moonveil. Haven't used it but keep hearing it's ridiculous.

Didn't have many runes left after leveling, decided why not: let's invade and to find every world having 2-3 players setting traps. I ganked one host, one astrologer, right before his buddy could kill me. He did and I still made off with my earnings and my runes intact.

Originally posted by Estacado
Astrolger is just stupid OP in this game...

Sword of night and flame, comet azur + lvl 10 mimic makes all the bosses a piece of cake.
That's a shit way to play the game though.

Originally posted by Badabing
I haven't leveled up enough for comet. What's a level 10 mimic?
Mimic is a Spirit Ashes (summon) that you can get in Nokron that copies your own character. It can do everything you can do (including using the flask) but has a ton more of HP and defense.

And Rodrika can level up your summons, and get them to +10.

Originally posted by StyleTime
I feel like it's moreso that the summons, Mimic in particular, are OP.

Solo mage is an entirely different experience, since there's nothing there to take aggro for you.

Well, and Moonveil. Haven't used it but keep hearing it's ridiculous.
Solo mages are fairly easy too in most cases since you can keep a safe distance against most bosses and deal massive damage. As long as you pick up (and level up) the right equipment you can cheese a lot of bosses. That's why I deleted my mage. I didn't want to ruin my first playthrough like that.

Originally posted by Badabing
I haven't leveled up enough for comet. What's a level 10 mimic?

Mimic is the Best summon you can get it's a an exact copy of you.

At + 10 its just stupid OP against bosses.

So, rethinking my bleed build because non-bleed infused weapons suck for inflicinting bleed.

Hero, level 65: Vig = 40, End = 24, Dex = 20, Arc = 20.

The endurance gives me enough equip-load to carry the Veteran's Helm, Armor, Leggings, and the Crucible Gauntlets, which together with two powerstanced Seppuku Cross-Naginatas, the Grear-Jar's talisman, the Bull-Goat's talisman, the Crimson Amber talisman, and the Erdtree's Favor talisman nets me 102 poise.

Decided to reroll into a Wretch. First goal: slay a dragon. Took...awhile but the heart I got was worth it.

Originally posted by Estacado
Mimic is the Best summon you can get it's a an exact copy of you.

At + 10 its just stupid OP against bosses. Thanks. I will have to get my magic build leveled up enough to try those spells/summons.