Elden Ring

[minutemancl]

49 minutes ago, jetsfan4life51 said:

Am I not supposed to hold my shield up?  I read it loses its Guard Counter potential if you hold it up the whole time.

I'm not good enough for Parrys yet lol.

Drop the shield. It creates bad habits and makes the game less fun.

EDIT: At least for bosses and big enemies. Using it for regular mobs and running through areas is still good.

Edited March 2, 2022 by minutemancl

[opeth0500]

I feel like I’m too old for this game lol. I can play for about an hour straight and then I need to take a break from the stress. 

[Jeezla]

16 hours ago, lancerman said:

Just beat Radahn lol. Oh boy 

He's been destroying me, so I'm exploring and leveling up my weapons before the rematch. He'll be going down today at some point. 

[lancerman]

32 minutes ago, Jeezla said:

He's been destroying me, so I'm exploring and leveling up my weapons before the rematch. He'll be going down today at some point. 

I was in the 60-70 level frame. He’s tough. The NPC’s are your friend. That second stage is killer if he gets behind you while you are summoning. 
 

Fun though. It’s like being in a big epic battle 

[jetsfan4life51]

3 hours ago, minutemancl said:

Drop the shield. It creates bad habits and makes the game less fun.

EDIT: At least for bosses and big enemies. Using it for regular mobs and running through areas is still good.

Leveling up to be a "Berserker." But when I play games where health isn't automatically regenerated I typically play with a shield.

I think I'm up to level 20.  How are you guys up to 60 lol.

Edited March 2, 2022 by jetsfan4life51

[minutemancl]

13 minutes ago, jetsfan4life51 said:

Leveling up to be a "Berserker." But when I play games where health isn't automatically regenerated I typically play with a shield.

I think I'm up to level 20.  How are you guys up to 60 lol.

This is your first Souls game right? It is 100% natural to go sword and board in the beginning, but I'm telling you, you'll have more fun and be more successful against bosses two handing a weapon or power stancing 2 weapons (which it sounds like you want to do anyway; might as well get used to it now). The game then becomes like a boxing match where you can't put your hands in front of your face and have to rely solely on head movement and your feet. You'll have to get good at dodge rolling and spacing, but that is easier than getting good at parrying.

[jetsfan4life51]

11 minutes ago, minutemancl said:

This is your first Souls game right? It is 100% natural to go sword and board in the beginning, but I'm telling you, you'll have more fun and be more successful against bosses two handing a weapon or power stancing 2 weapons (which it sounds like you want to do anyway; might as well get used to it now). The game then becomes like a boxing match where you can't put your hands in front of your face and have to rely solely on head movement and your feet. You'll have to get good at dodge rolling and spacing, but that is easier than getting good at parrying.

Yes first Souls game.  I rented Dark Souls 2 or 3? a few years ago to try out one weekend but weekend plans sprouted up and I never ended up playing.

My problem is I'm used to games where I shoot and melee my way out of crowds/close combat then I back off to heal.  I'm not a patient player lol so this is taking getting used to.  I'm having trouble with rolls so most of the time I'm doing Guard Counters, striking, then rolling away.  For some reason I'm still getting killed with that, but also getting killed if I try rolling out of everything.  Huge radius on some things.  But I'm slowly getting better.  Found some stones to level up my Sword but I haven't figured out if I should be waiting until my Endurance is higher and I level up a better Sword when I find one.  Little things like that to maximize my play.

[minutemancl]

25 minutes ago, jetsfan4life51 said:

Yes first Souls game.  I rented Dark Souls 2 or 3? a few years ago to try out one weekend but weekend plans sprouted up and I never ended up playing.

My problem is I'm used to games where I shoot and melee my way out of crowds/close combat then I back off to heal.  I'm not a patient player lol so this is taking getting used to.  I'm having trouble with rolls so most of the time I'm doing Guard Counters, striking, then rolling away.  For some reason I'm still getting killed with that, but also getting killed if I try rolling out of everything.  Huge radius on some things.  But I'm slowly getting better.  Found some stones to level up my Sword but I haven't figured out if I should be waiting until my Endurance is higher and I level up a better Sword when I find one.  Little things like that to maximize my play.

At its core in combat, all these Souls games are rhythm games, like DDR or Guitar Hero. Once you get the rhythm down, it is like a whole new game.

A few tips for you and anyone else getting into Elden Ring as their first Souls game:

1. Watch a good player on youtube or something, even just for one boss fight. You'll learn a lot of tips and tricks there.

2. This is the big one: the openings for healing and attacking are the same. The flow of combat, bosses and mobs alike, boils down to this: evade, heal or attack, repeat. You have a choice between enemy attacks to EITHER heal or attack. Attempting to do both or trying to heal/attack while not granted a opening will lead to you dying.

3a. If you follow 2, the only other really important piece is stamina management, which is why dodging is so much better than blocking. Blocking, you'll notice, results in your stamina bar going down an insane amount, which does not allow you to counter attack. Your attacking opportunities essentially become 0. Also, your stamina bar recharges much, much slower while a shield is raised. Walking around with your shield constantly raised is a poor strategy.

3b. In almost a contrast to point 2, sometimes those healing/attacking openings are best spent doing NOTHING. This is the case when you use all your stamina avoiding a flurry of attacks but don't need to heal. A lot of times, this is the best option. Attempting to attack with very minimal stamina leaves you no stamina to evade when the enemy inevitably starts attacking again.

4. Little tips:

Spacing is important.

When fighting a boss for the first time, use it to moreso feel out the attack patterns, movement ability, and reach of the enemy than going in with the mindset of beating them on the first try.

Do not panic roll; if you get hit by a single attack and live and there is no follow up, don't roll. You are just wasting stamina.

If you weren't aware, you have invincibility frames on your roll. I'm not sure anyone calculated the # of frames for Elden Ring yet, but there are a number of frames/fraction of a second that you are invincible while rolling. The most important part of a Souls game is mastering the timing between an enemy's attack making contact with you and the i-frames of your roll (normally, these are during the actual roll, not the initiation of your roll, so hit that roll button later than you think you should).

Enemies have weaknesses and weak spots. Dragons take more damage in their heads, some enemies take more damage from magic or bleed, etc. Vary up your strategy if you are having trouble with a boss. For example, Godrick the Grafted is weak to bleed and able to be staggered. The Bloodhound Fang you get from an Evergaol in Limgrave is super great to use against him, as it is a powerful greatsword that inflicts bleed and can stagger with heavy/jump attacks.

EDIT: Oh! One more thing I forgot- you can totally just run past most enemies. In fact, the game definitely expects you to do this in some situations. Don't feel obligated to fight every mob you come across.

Edited March 2, 2022 by minutemancl

[Xenos]

 

[minutemancl]

I actually forgot another important rule: don't get greedy. It pays off maybe 1% of the time. The other 99%, when the boss is down to 2 hits left and you decide to break the attack/evade pattern that's been working so well thus far to greed those last 2 hits in while the boss begins their attack animation, results in you dying with the boss hanging on with like 10 points of health left. There is definitely not a worse feeling than that in these games. Stick to the pattern that got you where you are.

My first attempt fighting against that Agent Hero of Zamor boss ended with me getting greedy and I died while the boss hung on with so little health that it did not even register on the visual health bar. It took me another 10 tries to beat that boss when I should have done it on the first try.

[Jeezla]

6 hours ago, lancerman said:

I was in the 60-70 level frame. He’s tough. The NPC’s are your friend. That second stage is killer if he gets behind you while you are summoning. 
 

Fun though. It’s like being in a big epic battle 

I'm 71 now, but was 49 i think when i tried

[Apparition]

What's the recommended level for Radahn?

[titansNvolsR#1]

I'm level 26. About 7 hours in. Haven't defeated a single story boss yet. Just been roaming around. Defeated Tree Sentinel, Demi-Human Queen, some double hammers dude, and a guy in a wolf-infested cave. First time being a magic-based character and not having heavy armor in a Souls game so I'm having to get used that style.

I still haven't found the spirit summoning bell. I read how to get it but it isn't working for me.

[Jetzger]

I don't know about y'all, but man Yuka Kitamura and co. knocked it out of the park with the soundtrack in this game. 

[Jeezla]

I screwed up the volcano manor quest