Support NeoGAF

[GymWolf]

The difference between the Uchigatana and the Nagakiba

Uchigatana

Nagakiba

Size matters.

 

[BadBurger]

My holy warrior ready for NG+ (spoilers from armor, don't look if you care about the quests and NPC's):

I needed a few more endurance points to equip an actual good shield while still being able to have a seal and bow equipped, but I made due. I just equipped to that heavy stone shield for bleed and defense against the blade master. This piece of junk with its 100% physical mitigation was enough for everything else.

 

[Majukun]

is there a general consensus on what is the actual difference between light and medium rolls?
from a video i saw the speed and distance is actually the same, but it was hypothesized that light roll would have more I-frames

anyone knows if in the meanwhile this has been proven?

also anyone focused on go from mid to light and thought it was worth the investment?

 

[mansoor1980]

There are others. Unless you’ve already collected them and need another.

Spoiler

You beaten Mohg? There’s one there just before the fight for example

i did beat him , but i will go there again to look for the stone............edit
looks like i have to beat his other form in mohgwyn palace

 

[RafterXL]

I still think this fight is very RNG, when standing too close when she does THAT MOVE targeting you rather than the summon - it's over. At least for me.

It's absolutely RNG. I've seen zero Waterfowls in a fight, I've seen multiple back to back.

Even some of the really good kill videos I've seen would have ended in death had she done it instead of another move.

Godskin due was the hardest boss for me by far during the entire game. It's the boss fight that felt most out of place.

A good tip is to keep the fat one in phase 1 and just keep killing the skinny one. The only real problem I had with that fight was when fatty did his roll.

is there a general consensus on what is the actual difference between light and medium rolls?
from a video i saw the speed and distance is actually the same, but it was hypothesized that light roll would have more I-frames

anyone knows if in the meanwhile this has been proven?

also anyone focused on go from mid to light and thought it was worth the investment?

I don't have any evidence, but I was messing around on a new character yesterday, fighting the Tree Knight and based on that I'd say there are definitely more i-frames on light. When I switched from medium to light I stopped getting hit by some of his moves. And this post on Reddit basically confirms what I was seeing in my play:

"Got that backwards. It's been proven to be the same speed, distance, and stamina cost. It's all about the i-frames. The beginning and end of the medium roll have an almost imperceptibly different animation from the light roll, more of a lurch than a smooth roll and stand. These lurches are not invincible, losing 2-4 i-frames that the smoother and more immediate light roll gives. So it's not mobility speed, but more about i-frame trigger delay that is slower. "

I don't know if it's worth it for regular play but in my situation a single hit would kill me so armor, poise, etc. was irrelevant. In a normal playthrough those things might outweigh the extra i-frames.

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

It's absolutely RNG. I've seen zero Waterfowls in a fight, I've seen multiple back to back.

Even some of the really good kill videos I've seen would have ended in death had she done it instead of another move.

A good tip is to keep the fat one in phase 1 and just keep killing the skinny one. The only real problem I had with that fight was when fatty did his roll.

I don't have any evidence, but I was messing around on a new character yesterday, fighting the Tree Knight and based on that I'd say there are definitely more i-frames on light. When I switched from medium to light I stopped getting hit by some of his moves. And this post on Reddit basically confirms what I was seeing in my play:

"Got that backwards. It's been proven to be the same speed, distance, and stamina cost. It's all about the i-frames. The beginning and end of the medium roll have an almost imperceptibly different animation from the light roll, more of a lurch than a smooth roll and stand. These lurches are not invincible, losing 2-4 i-frames that the smoother and more immediate light roll gives. So it's not mobility speed, but more about i-frame trigger delay that is slower. "

I don't know if it's worth it for regular play but in my situation a single hit would kill me so armor, poise, etc. was irrelevant. In a normal playthrough those things might outweigh the extra i-frames.

I spent a significant amount of by play through on my dex build at light and it was nice. I would have to manually equip my bow every time I wanted to use it, which became annoying after a while.

When I respecd to add arcane I dropped my endurance from 40 to 25, which makes it very difficult to stay light. But honestly I’d rather have those points in arcane/dex/vigor

 

[Pejo]

So what exactly am I looking at with the Four Belfries?

Spoiler

Real locations on the map, alternate realities, or what?

Spoiler

It's all areas in the real game world map that you can't access any other way, including one you've been to before. Look it as an extra fancy stonesword key that takes you to a whole new area instead of just behind a fog gate. No Sites of Grace, you just go there, do some stuff, get a bit of loot, then warp out.

So I just finished the Ranni quest finally tonight, after working on it the last 3 days. I am absolutely blown away with the length and complexity of the quest line. I'm sad to say that I had to look up where to go a few times since my trails went cold for a few steps, but area after area was something unique, cool, and there was one that was god damn miserable in Miyazaki's intended way. I'm in awe of the map size and content in this game. Got myself some new toys and spells to play with, but I'm too exhausted to do anything else tonight. What a game.

 

[Nitty_Grimes]

i did beat him , but i will go there again to look for the stone............edit
looks like i have to beat his other form in mohgwyn palace

Ah, but you dont have to beat his other form if you want the stone. Just...

Spoiler

instead of taking the lift up to the boss fight with him, go left up the stairs where all the dudes are praying. It's in that chest

 

[Bartski]

It's absolutely RNG. I've seen zero Waterfowls in a fight, I've seen multiple back to back.

Even some of the really good kill videos I've seen would have ended in death had she done it instead of another move.

yeah, the only way to avoid it is perfect spacing and stamina management on the first two flurries. A strat like this really only works if you're butt naked because of running speed but who does that.
You're better off blocking those 2 with a very good shield, rolling into the third one and then rolling twice backwards-left on the 4th. There is only a few of times I managed to do something like that.
I'm sure eventually someone will discover a much more consistent way of doing it.

 

[Bragr]

Spoiler

It's all areas in the real game world map that you can't access any other way, including one you've been to before. Look it as an extra fancy stonesword key that takes you to a whole new area instead of just behind a fog gate. No Sites of Grace, you just go there, do some stuff, get a bit of loot, then warp out.

So I just finished the Ranni quest finally tonight, after working on it the last 3 days. I am absolutely blown away with the length and complexity of the quest line. I'm sad to say that I had to look up where to go a few times since my trails went cold for a few steps, but area after area was something unique, cool, and there was one that was god damn miserable in Miyazaki's intended way. I'm in awe of the map size and content in this game. Got myself some new toys and spells to play with, but I'm too exhausted to do anything else tonight. What a game.

I was pretty frustrated with this. I finished the game without guides, and while I was trying to do the legacy quest, I got stuck and had no idea where to go. When I was done with the main quest and looked at guides, I saw just how much I missed. I can't ever recall missing anything near this much in any FromSoftware game.

I honestly think they design parts of the game with guides in mind because it is incredibly helpful in terms of having an active fanbase talking about the game online. It's fantastic marketing to have a vocal and active fanbase, but it completely fucks non-guide users. They do this more than any of their previous games, the "past-quest" line in Sekiro or the catacombs in Bloodborne were visible to all, this was not.

 

[TheDuskwalker]

Finally got the Platinum. Turned out 1 legendary armament was a missable so I had to do a speedrun while getting all armaments again. Fairly easy platinum compared to previous games.

 

[SCB3]

Does anyone know a decent rune farm for about 20k runes? I wanna buy a certain armor set

Spoiler: Boss

Radahn's

before I traverse

Spoiler: Location

Lake of Rot

 

[RoadHazard]

I'm not getting ashes from the gray scarabs anymore. Have I already collected everything they have to offer in that area?

 

[mansoor1980]

had to use bow to cheese my way through elphael brace of the haligtree , melee only build is broken in this game.

 

[Braag]

So I finished Ranni's and Fia's questlines... shit's getting weird.

 

[Gordon Freeman]

Rushing through Journey 2 to get the last legendary armament I need (it was a missable one) and I’ll have the Platinum!

Amazing game. Reaching 100 hours now at level 167.

 

[SCB3]

Ok, so how the fuck are you even supposed to get close to

Spoiler: Boss Spoiler

Astel Naturalborn of the Void

? I swear for melee builds this game is unnecessarily harder

 

[Majukun]

have been fighting with stutter issues since the first patch..wanted to try a fan made patch that claims to solve the issue for some configurations...cockblocked by the anti cheat system that doesn't even allow me to use it.

fix your shit fromsoft...or just revert the game to launch version...didn't have stutter issues until the first mini-patch came out at the start of march...

 

[SCB3]

Ok, so how the fuck are you even supposed to get close to

Spoiler: Boss Spoiler

Astel Naturalborn of the Void

? I swear for melee builds this game is unnecessarily harder

ok yea this is another boss where yet again it has too many attacks to contend with if you're melee or need to be up close, I've gotten close a few times but yea

 

[BigbyTheSheriff]

I think Dragonlord Placidusax was even harder for me than Malenia.

Still, no match to my lord after all.

 

[SCB3]

Ranni's questline done, I kinda enjoyed this quest within a quest stuff, its kinda cool

 

[Bartski]

Ok, so how the fuck are you even supposed to get close to

Spoiler: Boss Spoiler

Astel Naturalborn of the Void

? I swear for melee builds this game is unnecessarily harder

Stay locked on the head, dodge the charged blast or two, dodge 2 tail attacks, wait for the charge attack when he flies towards/over you, get under him and start wailing. The trick here IMO is to stay closer to his head than the range of those explosives he's spraying. He'll teleport away eventually after a couple of hits. Strong ash pair like two azula beastmen or nightmaiden & swordstress work good as distraction. He's got an annoying instakill grab teleporting behind you (bad luck) and a meteor attack in 2nd phase, if you're far enough it will miss if you run perpendicularly

 

[hlm666]

Here's a guide for malenia, git gud edition.

Spoiler: prepare to cry.

 

[SCB3]

Stay locked on the head, dodge the charged blast or two, dodge 2 tail attacks, wait for the charge attack when he flies towards/over you, get under him and start wailing. The trick here IMO is to stay closer to his head than the range of those explosives he's spraying. He'll teleport away eventually after a couple of hits. Strong ash pair like two azula beastmen or nightmaiden & swordstress work good as distraction. He's got an annoying instakill grab teleporting behind you (bad luck) and a meteor attack in 2nd phase, if you're far enough it will miss if you run perpendicularly

Thanks, very similar to what I did to beat him!

 

[Braag]

Ok, so how the fuck are you even supposed to get close to

Spoiler: Boss Spoiler

Astel Naturalborn of the Void

? I swear for melee builds this game is unnecessarily harder

Spoiler

I just rushed him and targeted his head. Going under him isn't a good idea as he does those splash damage downward hits which are almost impossible to dodge if you're under him. Also my Mimic Tear helped a lot by taking aggro at times. It wasn't as hard as Radahn as a melee build imo.

 

[Ulysses 31]

This guy touches on an issue I have with the story telling in Elden Ring(and some other From games) and they're shooting themselves in the foot with how much they hide it from casual players. It can be less cryptic while still leaving mysteries for the lore detectives to discover the finer details.



It's lacking some bare essentials of the story that IMO could really increase motivation to explore(outside of the gameplay and "cool" looking buildings in the distance).

I doubt the average player will know what the Elden Ring even is, hint it's not a physical ring that can be shattered. And if you don't even know what it is, why would you care if it's reformed.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

. It can be less cryptic while still leaving mysteries for the lore detectives to discover the finer details.

Please provide an example of a game that is ‘less cryptic’ yet still does not reach the modern ‘in your face’ standard? At the same time it has the world building equal to From games? Just curious.

Storytelling from From is their hallmark. Plain and simple. Want something else play another game.

 

[12Goblins]

is it normal that I'm 35-40 hours in and I barely have any armors? I miss fashion souls ;_:

 

[Ulysses 31]

Please provide an example of a game that is ‘less cryptic’ yet still does not reach the modern ‘in your face’ standard? At the same time it has the world building equal to From games? Just curious.

Sekiro reaches a better balance with extra details you can discover about the world and characters and what's told to players through natural progression.

Storytelling from From is their hallmark. Plain and simple. Want something else play another game.

Their way is not above criticism. The gameplay is good enough to overlook this flaw but I maintain it's not good story telling if you have to rely on external sources to understand the story.

 

[Swift_Star]

Sekiro reaches a better balance with extra details you can discover about the world and characters and what's told to players through natural progression.

Their way is not above criticism. The gameplay is good enough to overlook this flaw but I maintain it's not good story telling if you have to rely on external sources to understand the story.

Who cares about the story in these games? Apart from Bloodborne, it’s always:
it was a prosperous kingdom, then people with lust to power made everything go to shit, now everyone is stuck in a death rebirth circle.
Your job is to kill the demigods, ash lords whatever lords and either become the ash lord, Elden lord and make the land prosperous again or whatever.
It’s always this… the lore is there to add flavor but it’s not groundbreaking and only diehard fans really care about this.
These games are very gamey-game and that’s what good about them.
I have lots of games I adore and filled with stories like JRPGs. I don’t need this one to be story heavy.
It’s not a flaw, it’s by choice. It’s by design.

 

[12Goblins]

Their way is not above criticism. The gameplay is good enough to overlook this flaw but I maintain it's not good story telling if you have to rely on external sources to understand the story.

I've played all souls game, some of them multiple times, and I have absolutely no idea what's going on in the story. not even the slightest clue. it feels like I'm dropped into a fully developed world much bigger than myself and it's why I love these games . kind of the same feeling I got from watching Dune, or Game of Thrones

 

[Ulysses 31]

Who cares about the story in these games? Apart from Bloodborne, it’s always:
it was a prosperous kingdom, then people with lust to power made everything go to shit, now everyone is stuck in a death rebirth circle.
Your job is to kill the demigods, ash lords whatever lords and either become the ash lord, Elden lord and make the land prosperous again or whatever.
It’s always this… the lore is there to add flavor but it’s not groundbreaking and only diehard fans really care about this.
These games are very gamey-game and that’s what good about them.
I have lots of games I adore and filled with stories like JRPGs. I don’t need this one to be story heavy.
It’s not a flaw, it’s by choice. It’s by design.

Like I said earlier, a decent story can incentivise players to explore more, try out different things gameplay allows or connect better with the game world. If the gameplay's good enough, the lack of story matters less but a decent/good story + good gameplay > just good gameplay.

They put a lot of effort into the world building and IMO it's a flaw that it can be so easily missed.

Designs can have flaws btw. (it's not game breaking since the gameplay is good enough to carry the game.)

 

[Ulysses 31]

I've played all souls game, some of them multiple times, and I have absolutely no idea what's going on in the story. not even the slightest clue. it feels like I'm dropped into a fully developed world much bigger than myself and it's why I love these games . kind of the same feeling I got from watching Dune, or Game of Thrones

I do find DS worlds interesting and from that comes a desire to better understand what's going on. It's a complement to the world design that I want to know more about it. And when I see all the details there I do wish I'd known about them on my first playthrough and in a way I'm assuming a lot more players would've enjoyed their first playthrough more if they had known.

 

[Matchew]

The storytelling here is absolutely ass. I am 65 hours in and have no real idea WTF is going on or why I should care. Everything else in the game is a 10/10, but the story and the way it's told are terrible.

 

[Ulysses 31]

The storytelling here is absolutely ass. I am 65 hours in and have no real idea WTF is going on or why I should care. Everything else in the game is a 10/10, but the story and the way it's told are terrible.

You should watch the video I linked a few posts above. It's timestamped at the end that IMO gives an essential part of the story that should've been in the intro to make you care a little more for what's going on.

 

[Aesius]

Ok, so how the fuck are you even supposed to get close to

Spoiler: Boss Spoiler

Astel Naturalborn of the Void

? I swear for melee builds this game is unnecessarily harder

Melee character here. Beat him the same way I beat everything else: hiding behind my greatshield.

 

[DonF]

Quick question. Does this game have a point of no return? Also, can I continue playing if I ever finish it? Or I'm forced to go to Ng+?

 

[TheUsual]

Man, I completely missed the Weeping Peninsula. Decided to do some exploring of previous areas after getting to Atlus Plateau. Never went passed the Bridge of Sacrifice when I first approached it. Just walked through Castle Morne with no struggle. Which is nice for once. And this is a big area!

 

[JohnnyFootball]

Level 55 and I haven't even made it to Stormveil castle. I have been opening up and unlocking parts of the map. Running and grabbing items. Despite that, I HATE those fucking IMPS. Fuck those things!!

 

[nemiroff]

This was actually pretty funny (beware of spoilers though)

 

[Swift_Star]

Ok, so how the fuck are you even supposed to get close to

Spoiler: Boss Spoiler

Astel Naturalborn of the Void

? I swear for melee builds this game is unnecessarily harder

It is. I’m making a dex/int character. Sorcery is OP. It’s not even the same game. Way easier, no frustration involved. I think they want people to use sorcery. incantations are really weak in the game, it’s not even fun.

 

[Gordon Freeman]

IT IS DONE!

Amazing game. Just over 100 hours and hit level 160. Fantastic experience!

 

[Ulysses 31]

Quick question. Does this game have a point of no return? Also, can I continue playing if I ever finish it? Or I'm forced to go to Ng+?

There are quests and certain areas that will be closed off after certain events but you can continue the game after the credits. To start journey 2 you get the option at the roundtable.

 

[March Climber]

I also agree with the above that Sekiro had the best version of From's type of storytelling.

Edit: To expand, Sekiro's character dialogue was very straight to the point 90% of the time(no need to be so wordy) and was the least vague out of their other entries. For casual fans it isn't the biggest of improvements but I definitely felt more engaged with it's story and characters because I knew mostly what was going on without using a wiki or loremaster.

 

[The_hunter]

is it normal that I'm 35-40 hours in and I barely have any armors? I miss fashion souls ;_:

Yep, near the end you get showered in armor sets.

 

[The_hunter]

The story is the best part of this game, reading the item descriptions and piecing it together is very fun. It actually has a great mythos this time around.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

It is. I’m making a dex/int character. Sorcery is OP. It’s not even the same game. Way easier, no frustration involved. I think they want people to use sorcery. incantations are really weak in the game, it’s not even fun.

I respecced to sorcery at SL57, feel incredibly weak.

 

[TintoConCasera]

Just finished the game! Got the ending I wanted, Ranni's, but man, I didn't dig that final boss too much tbh, there were far better fights in the game imo. Radagon was great, but what came after not so much.

Overall I would say that this game's one of the best I've played. Got 160~ hours of quality content and good fun, and that's having missed a few things, mostly related to NPC quests. Didn't finished Malenia's daughter quest, so I didn't got the needle I needed for controlling the crazy flame and thus being able so save Melina's life. But hey, guess that's something to do on another playthrough. Aside from that I think I've explored the whole map and did almost all the boss fights there are.

Only flaw I found is some repetition with the boss models, but aside from that, amazing game and easily one of my favorites.

 

[rofif]

Bruh

This wall took me way faster. Strange.

 

[balls of snow]

Activated my Radahn runed. That platforming was fucking tense, up and down that tower in Caelid. I'll leave the boss for tomorrow. Phew.