|OT| Elden Ring - Foul Tarnished, in search of the Elden Ring

[Avern]

If I want to savescum bunch of endings without ng+, when should I make a back up save? How many endings are there actually? I could google it of course, but I'd rather ask here and not risk google spoiling stuff.

What curiousBystander said is correct, but there's one other thing to know. There is an ending that you can get permanently locked out (though you're not likely to do it by accident). It works like this:

• Normally, you can pick any ending you like from the final room, except one, call it ending S for special
• If you trigger event A, you can ONLY pick ending S from the final room
• After triggering event A, you can then trigger event B, which will revert things to normal (can pick any ending except S)
• If you trigger event B, you cannot go back, you're permanently locked out of ending S

So basically, you should avoid triggering both of these events before you're ready to savescum endings. It's easiest if you just don't trigger event A until you've scummed all the other endings. So if you want to know how to do that, here's some nested spoilers to help you know the trigger for event A:

Don't click this unless you've explored the capital

Don't click this unless you've explored beneath the capital

Don't click this unless you've defeated a boss in the area beneath the capital

Behind that boss's chamber is a hidden area. At the bottom of it is a door. Opening that door will trigger event A and lock you into ending S.

 

[Parsnip]

What curiousBystander said is correct, but there's one other thing to know. There is an ending that you can get permanently locked out (though you're not likely to do it by accident). It works like this:

• Normally, you can pick any ending you like from the final room, except one, call it ending S for special
• If you trigger event A, you can ONLY pick ending S from the final room
• After triggering event A, you can then trigger event B, which will revert things to normal (can pick any ending except S)
• If you trigger event B, you cannot go back, you're permanently locked out of ending S

So basically, you should avoid triggering both of these events before you're ready to savescum endings. It's easiest if you just don't trigger event A until you've scummed all the other endings. So if you want to know how to do that, here's some nested spoilers to help you know the trigger for event A:

Don't click this unless you've explored the capital

Don't click this unless you've explored beneath the capital

Don't click this unless you've defeated a boss in the area beneath the capital

Behind that boss's chamber is a hidden area. At the bottom of it is a door. Opening that door will trigger event A and lock you into ending S.

Cheers for the detailed explanation.
This is actually specifically what I was wondering about, the event A. Googled something different (about the eyes) and stumbled upon that ending information as you might expect. So good to know that I don't need to have an earlier save for that specific thing, they can all be done after the last boss.

 

[Joe Spangle]

I beat Radahn!

Used that Bird fall off cliff grind to level up to 85 ish and then pew pew'd him with magic whilst all the summons sacrificed themselves for my greater glory. Feels good. I'd been stuck on him for a while, dont get much time to play these days so each session was turning into 'try to kill him a few times, get splatted, go wander aimlessly about not really doing anything'.

 

[Parsnip]

Got to the last area, probably. [snip]

Now, nearly a month later I think I'm actually pretty close to the end. For real this time. I have a bonfire at the Ashen Capital Queen's Bedroom, and I assume the next boss up the stairs is the last boss.
However, I actually have a couple of caves/tombs left at least, and I also want to clean up that snowfield I kind of ran through last time. And get back to Malenia and try to kick her ass this time. I'm going to do those before I go up those stairs. And after that I'll probably look at a guide for what I can still do in NG if anything. I know I'm missing some talismans, since I got +1 versions of some but not the base version. So maybe there are some caves/tombs I haven't even been to yet. I also know I've missed some character quests entirely, and at least one was halted midstream (Alexander) because I missed the first step, so I'll do those in NG+.

 

[kio]

Now, nearly a month later I think I'm actually pretty close to the end. For real this time. I have a bonfire at the Ashen Capital Queen's Bedroom, and I assume the next boss up the stairs is the last boss.
However, I actually have a couple of caves/tombs left at least, and I also want to clean up that snowfield I kind of ran through last time. And get back to Malenia and try to kick her ass this time. I'm going to do those before I go up those stairs. And after that I'll probably look at a guide for what I can still do in NG if anything. I know I'm missing some talismans, since I got +1 versions of some but not the base version. So maybe there are some caves/tombs I haven't even been to yet. I also know I've missed some character quests entirely, and at least one was halted midstream (Alexander) because I missed the first step, so I'll do those in NG+.

The final boss gate is different from all the others. That specific one up the stairs isn't different.

 

[Parsnip]

The final boss gate is different from all the others. That specific one up the stairs isn't different.

Still pretty close to the end I'm assuming.

 

[Parsnip]

A patch is up.

*Fixed a bug that prevented an event with the NPC "Alexander, Warrior Jar" from progressing under certain circumstances.

Maybe I can actually continue the Alexander quest now before going to ng+.

But still no CA or vignette toggle.



Also I played a bit yesterday, cleaned up some of the snowfield, and found another location too. This game just keeps going huh.

 

[Panda Pedinte]

Also I played a bit yesterday, cleaned up some of the snowfield, and found another location too. This game just keeps going huh.

It is really big specially in a first playthrough. There were places that I found after beating the game.

 

[Parsnip]

Harpist beats Margit with a literal harp (not harp bow)

 

[Gamall Wednesday Ida]

Items unlocked for purchase by offering Bell Bearings to the NPC “Twin Maiden Husk” will now carry over to NG+ play. This affects all items unlocked by offering the following items to the NPC “Twin Maiden Husk”: Bone Peddler's Bell Bearing/Meat Peddler's Bell Bearing/Medicine Peddler's Bell Bearing/Gravity Stone Peddler's Bell Bearing/Smithing-Stone Miner's Bell Bearing/Somberstone Miner's Bell Bearing/Glovewort Picker's Bell Bearing/Ghost-Glovewort Picker's Bell Bearing.

The way it should have been from the bloody beginning.

Fixed a bug which caused the light wave of the "Moonlight Greatsword" skill sometimes not aim at the locked-on target.

Amen ! The MLGS was severely crippled by that.

Fixed a bug that prevented some graces from being able to be touched when approached under certain circumstances.

Not sure what this refers to, but I saw a lot of graces that were some distance away from the prompt to interact with them.

 

[LEANIJA]

The way it should have been from the bloody beginning.

oh i didnt see that, thats great – although after 4 playthroughs i think im done with ER for now- but maybe i'll check if that applies retroactively

 

[Gamall Wednesday Ida]

after 4 playthroughs i think im done with ER for now

So am I. I'm going through HZD these days. Runs nicely on Linux.

maybe i'll check if that applies retroactively

It does not, sadly. :-(

I also see a "return to desktop" button that was definitely not here before. From learns slooooowly, but it does learn.

 

[Panda Pedinte]

Harpist beats Margit with a literal harp (not harp bow)

Thats impressive

 

[Gamall Wednesday Ida]

Possibly the most important contribution of recent patches:

 

[LEANIJA]

So am I. I'm going through HZD these days. Runs nicely on Linux.

Also a very good game in my opinion, enjoyed it a lot – have fun

It does not, sadly. :-(

I was at the end of Run 2 with my second character and had everything collected, so it was all good anyway

Possibly the most important contribution of recent patches:

thats indeed very useful!

 

[Panda Pedinte]

Possibly the most important contribution of recent patches:

Finally!

 

[Gamall Wednesday Ida]

{On HZD}

Also a very good game in my opinion, enjoyed it a lot – have fun

Thanks, and I agree.

Off-topic opinions on HZD

I have my minor gripes with it (save system, lack of subtlety in some aspects of the writing -- everybody seems to either ostensibly hate or openly worship Aloy, with little middle ground, despite her bouts of blatant brattiness. Because of that, she has few opportunities for any character development from interactions with people), but the scenery is absolutely gorgeous, which is the main point of attraction for me.

I find the combat reasonably challenging and fun (in Normal), so that the flaws in the save system are not too much of a problem, and the main story (in which I'm not very far, I think; I just climbed the big tower and had a Zoom meeting with Mysterious Scholar. I heavily prioritise side quests and exploration) is intriguing enough.

Finally!

And in 30 years, they may even brainstorm the idea of having the amount of souls in the title, like "Golden Rune [1200]" instead of more-or-less arbitrary numbers. But the world is not yet ready for such convenience.

Well, actually, after graphing it and performing a regression, the numbers do seem to follow an exponential law, roughly given by
: runes( Golden Rune[n] ) = 489.764 e^(0.229294 n)
if including Numen, Hero, and Lord's runes as Golden Runes [14+]. So it's not "arbitrary".

Still not the most user-friendly, I should say.

data:

https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Golden+Rune+(1)

exponential fit 200 400 800 1200 1600 2000 2500 3000 3800 5000 6250 7500 10000 12500 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 50000 - Wolfram|Alpha

Wolfram|Alpha brings expert-level knowledge and capabilities to the broadest possible range of people—spanning all professions and education levels.

www.wolframalpha.com

 

[DrShrapnel]

Having played this religiously since launch day, I’ve finally made it to the Elden Beast - and came super close a couple times to beating it. But damn if that overgrown Amoeba kept getting the best of me.

Any tips for this thing? I read this morning that it’s immune to everything, so it’s all about physical damage.

 

[LEANIJA]

Having played this religiously since launch day, I’ve finally made it to the Elden Beast - and came super close a couple times to beating it. But damn if that overgrown Amoeba kept getting the best of me.

Any tips for this thing? I read this morning that it’s immune to everything, so it’s all about physical damage.

yes, i had troubles with it too but bascially follow this and you'll have a much easier time

yt video

in written short form:

spoilers

use holy damage mitigation
use the mimic (the more upgraded, the better, of course)
use the https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Blasphemous+Blade against Radagon (the weapon art hits him hard and heals you)
then against the Elden Beast, use the https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Fallingstar+Beast+Jaw (again, use the weapon art: has great range, can stun the Beast, and otherwise just deals great damage on it)
to avoid his attacks and to sprint after him, I used Bloodhound Step

 

[DrShrapnel]

yes, i had troubles with it too but bascially follow this and you'll have a much easier time

yt video

in written short form:

spoilers

use holy damage mitigation
use the mimic (the more upgraded, the better, of course)
use the https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Blasphemous+Blade against Radagon (the weapon art hits him hard and heals you)
then against the Elden Beast, use the https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Fallingstar+Beast+Jaw (again, use the weapon art: has great range, can stun the Beast, and otherwise just deals great damage on it)
to avoid his attacks and to sprint after him, I used Bloodhound Step

Thank you for the tips. I'll have to respec (been playing with an Intelligence/Dex build), but I've got plenty of Larval Tears.

 

[Panda Pedinte]

Having played this religiously since launch day, I’ve finally made it to the Elden Beast - and came super close a couple times to beating it. But damn if that overgrown Amoeba kept getting the best of me.

Any tips for this thing? I read this morning that it’s immune to everything, so it’s all about physical damage.

What kind of build are you using? When I fought it with my STR/FTH build I didn't use any incantation so I just focused on avoiding it's attacks and hitting it when the openings happened.

 

[LEANIJA]

Thank you for the tips. I'll have to respec (been playing with an Intelligence/Dex build), but I've got plenty of Larval Tears.

True – I had to respec as well for that build/method. As always, your mileage may wary, but using this method, I got it on second try. Good luck

What kind of build are you using? When I fought it with my STR/FTH build I didn't use any incantation so I just focused on avoiding it's attacks and hitting it when the openings happened.

Thats also always an option of course Im usually too impatient to play like this and get punched in the face a lot as a result

 

[Panda Pedinte]

True – I had to respec as well for that build/method. As always, your mileage may wary, but using this method, I got it on second try. Good luck



Thats also always an option of course Im usually too impatient to play like this and get punched in the face a lot as a result

I think I had more issues dealing with the first phase than against the Elden Beast, I had issues understanding some of it's patterns

 

[LEANIJA]

I think I had more issues dealing with the first phase than against the Elden Beast, I had issues understanding some of it's patterns

I thought both phases are pretty intense and the whole encounter felt like a difficulty spike especially compared to the bosses that come before (except Malenia, of course)...

but yeah, Radagon has these slow windup times and then super-fast attacks, I could not get into that rhythm without relying on the mimic tanking for me. And with the Blasphemous Blade, we both got enough healing while dealing enough damage to get him down quickly enough so that when the Beast comes up, I'd still have the mimic alive and flasks to spare.

 

[DrShrapnel]

Finally beat the game last night. I removed some ashes of war off my katanas, and switched to my most powerful physical damage versions. Also went back and collected a few whatchamacallits I missed to upgrade how much my flask recharges health.
That thing was still a prick as it’s often moving away. Oh, and used Bloodhound Step which was handy.

Anyways after seeing what happens in New Game Plus and losing access to all those Smithing Stones, I’m now going back and hitting my favorite rune farm path. Each run allows me to buy Somber Stones 1-9 and upgrade a weapon. So I’m upgrading everything I’m interested in before starting new game plus.

I’m also missing one Legendary weapon and still have Miquella’s needle to use.

This week I’ll be playing on the Deck. So glad I don’t have to leave it all behind during vacation lol

 

[LEANIJA]

Finally beat the game last night. I removed some ashes of war off my katanas, and switched to my most powerful physical damage versions. Also went back and collected a few whatchamacallits I missed to upgrade how much my flask recharges health.
That thing was still a prick as it’s often moving away. Oh, and used Bloodhound Step which was handy.

Anyways after seeing what happens in New Game Plus and losing access to all those Smithing Stones, I’m now going back and hitting my favorite rune farm path. Each run allows me to buy Somber Stones 1-9 and upgrade a weapon. So I’m upgrading everything I’m interested in before starting new game plus.

The latest patch changed that, you'll keep access to the smithing stones in NG+
(See a few postings above)

Also, congratulations!

 

[Le Pertti]

I beat the fire giant and then the weird lady burnt down the erd tree and now I’m in some weird place. Will I be able go back?

 

[Parsnip]

I'm also at the last boss now.

I beat the fire giant and then the weird lady burnt down the erd tree and now I’m in some weird place. Will I be able go back?

Yes, you can get back. I forget exactly, but if it's like all the other surprise teleports, you need to rest at a bonfire to be able to fast travel again.

 

[DrShrapnel]

The latest patch changed that, you'll keep access to the smithing stones in NG+
(See a few postings above)

Also, congratulations!

Nice, thank you for the head’s up!

Gotta say I’m just over 200hrs and I’m still wanting to play more, and try different builds. It’s been years since I’ve been this into a game!

 

[Parsnip]

And done. 200 hours or so. Well, I may still actually poke around a bit in NG+ to see if any of the NPC quests I missed are worthwhile and doable without going too to deep into it again. If not, I'll just check the wiki or youtube for any dialogue or whatever.
For the achievements I ended up missing that one dragon at the eye of the storm, and the Erdtree's Favor +2 talisman, so I ended up being fairly thorough just by playing the game normally. At the end I checked the wiki for any NPC quests I could still finish and completed those that way.

At the end I was still rolling with the Carian Soldier set. Just didn't find anything else that I really liked the look of in the end. Which bums me out a bit to be honest. Will probably check the wiki for armor sets too in case I missed any.

I did enjoy the game overall a lot but I often felt that it doesn't reward you for exploration that much. I mean, yes, it does. With a rare flower that I have 100 of already, or some smithing stones. Rewards that felt worthwhile were few and far between. One might argue that the exploration in itself is the reward, and I agree, to some extent. But every time I picked loot from a body that was like 3 flowers while there's also 3 of the same flower right there, or around the corner, it just felt like I was wasting my time exploring. Same with most chests. Even the highest tier smithing material doesn't feel "chest worthy", so to speak.

 

[Le Pertti]

Loooool just now did I read that you can upgrade ones summon! My summon has kept up quite well considering Im like 130 hours in haha.

So what should I do with the remembrances that one gets after defeating bosses? Ive duplicated some of them. But never used them because I don't really know what they do.

 

[Panda Pedinte]

Loooool just now did I read that you can upgrade ones summon! My summon has kept up quite well considering Im like 130 hours in haha.

So what should I do with the remembrances that one gets after defeating bosses? Ive duplicated some of them. But never used them because I don't really know what they do.

You can exchange the remembrances with Enia (the old lady inside the Two Fingers room) and get weapons, spells or ashes of war.

 

[Parsnip]

Yeah, Rememberances can get you boss specific weapons, spells and such. Personally didn't find any of them super useful or fitting to my style of play, except Maliketh's Black Blade.

Also yeah, definitely upgrade your spirit summons. The Black Knife Tiche and Mimic Tear in particular are quite powerful.

 

[Joe Spangle]

I've made some pretty good progress in the last few sessions. Been resolving some NPC questlines purely by stumbling around and happening upon the right circumstances. I've over levelled thanks to that kill the bird glitch so am enjoying it a bit more as the areas im at and boss fights aren't so much of a struggle.

Top game this. So much to do, so many ways to attack things. Ive collected so many weapons its ridiculous .

 

[Le Pertti]

Maleania seems so boring, the only reason she is hard is because she does that one long ass series of attacks that usually depletes ones HP. Lol I am actually little disappointed haha, kept hearing how hard she was and was expecting little more nail biting kind of match.

EDIT: NOOOOOOOOOOOOO she has two stages. Yeah no way im going to beat her. Time to level farm another 50 hours.(no joke)

 

[Panda Pedinte]

Maleania seems so boring, the only reason she is hard is because she does that one long ass series of attacks that usually depletes ones HP. Lol I am actually little disappointed haha, kept hearing how hard she was and was expecting little more nail biting kind of match.

EDIT: NOOOOOOOOOOOOO she has two stages. Yeah no way im going to beat her. Time to level farm another 50 hours.(no joke)

Once you are able to read Malenia cues the fight becomes a lot more manageable, even her bullshit attack can be dodged.

 

[Parsnip]

EDIT: NOOOOOOOOOOOOO she has two stages. Yeah no way im going to beat her. Time to level farm another 50 hours.(no joke)

Malenia is basically a nightmare for players like me because she heals with every hit even if you block the attack, so I really had to up my dodging game.

Some tips perhaps?
She has low poise and bleed works on her, which is great too because it doesn't have a cool down. I think I remember you were heavy on dexterity, so Rivers of Blood is a good katana that has a unique skill with extra range too. Not sure how it compares to your current of course. But it's really satisfying when blood loss procs and she staggers right when she's about to launch into a combo or something.

Another tactics is to go with Black Knife Tiche spirit summon, she uses the Black Knife dagger with the Blade of Death skill, very useful. You could also try the Black Knife yourself if you like daggers. Or have it as a secondary weapon where you use the skill and then switch back to your main weapon. If you use Mimic Tear, you could also make it so that you have the dagger equipped when you summon so the mimic will have it and can use the skill, but you yourself switch to your normal weapon. Endless options.

 

[Le Pertti]

As someone who thinks that boss fights is bad game design, its pretty much the only things I have left in Elden Ring before I can go anywhere but I fucking hate the boss fights I have to do and not really enjoying the game at all.

 

[MomoVideo]

I fucking hate the boss fights I have to do and not really enjoying the game at all.

Same here. I'm using a melee build and a lot of bosses have such a short attack window that I have to cheese a lot of them to get through. I'm in the Mountains of the Giants and fought Commander Niall Not only does he spawn two minions at the start of the battle that does tons of damage, but he himself also has very long reach, super big AoE with each attack and basically no window to attack him. Whenever I approached him he would just stomp the ground that is 360 degrees attack and hit for like 2/3 of HP. Had to use the ranged attack of the Moonveil to get through.

I am not enjoying this. I dropped the game shortly after, which makes it the first souls game that I didn't beat. It definitely overstays its welcome, the game should be 1/3 shorter.

 

[Parsnip]

I wrote about this after finishing Metroid Dread somewhat recently on discord, that I also don't really love boss battles in most games. In souls stuff I'm there for the exploration and the gameplay that that entails. But I would be lying if I didn't find great satisfaction when I do beat most bosses in souls. But I also have zero problems using NPC summons where available and spirit ashes in ER.

 

[Gamall Wednesday Ida]

The problem with ER is that the bosses are designed for Spirit Ashes. AOE galore, area denial, and relentless aggression. But then, they tend to be too easy with Spirits (if you're levelled). So they end up trivial or unfair depending on build/ rng, with little in between.

RL1, however, is pure pain with certain bosses, Spirits or no.

The one boss I liked RL1 so far (I'm in Mountaintops) is Godfrey's Golden Shade. There is a nice rhythm to the fight, if you can find it. It's tough, but fair in a way the others aren't. For the others, RL1 just highlights just how bullshit / antifun their design is. Magma Wyrms ? Full grow Fallingstar Beast ? Yuck. Morgott was all over the place too.

Next on my list is Fire Giant, and I'm not looking forward to that. I'm still psychologically recovering from Spiritcaller Snail --- the one with Acolyte then Noble. Brrrr.

edit: I'm just mad I still don't have Bloodborne for PC.

 

[Le Pertti]

I keep trying different weapons... but what's the point when the bosses won't even let me attack.

 

[Le Pertti]

Maliketh is such fucking bullshit Jesus fucking Christ. This game really isn't made for melee.

EDIT: BOOOOOOOOOOM Finally! By pure luck with bloodloss did I manage to beat him

 

[Le Pertti]

Yooooooooooo! I bloody did it! I beat Malenia! Again by pure luck with bloodloss. I feel like I don't earn these victories haha, I was so lucky that I barely needed to heal, had 9 flasks left and full life!

 

[curi0usBystander]

In a souls game a win is a win, you cheese as much as you can and you take that win.

 

[Parsnip]

RNG babyyyyyyyyy.

 

[Le Pertti]

Wow Godfrey was so easy! I tried to go against him long time ago once, then I got better gear and levelled up to beat Malenia and now that I tried to go against Godfrey I beat him on the first try without breaking a sweat. I think me and my mimic both hacking away with a twin blade and bloodloss really is a lethal combination!

 

[Panda Pedinte]

ELDEN RING: Patch Notes 1.06

ELDEN RING Patch Note 1.06 - Discover the latest patch note of Elden Ring and the different updates.

en.bandainamcoent.eu

New update is out!

In other news, I started a new character some days ago and I was planning about doing an Arcane build focusing in status like poison and bleed but so far I've been only using an Occult Banished Knight Halberd with the Spectral Lance ash of war, it's crazy how mostly of the enemies are staggered after only 2 or 3 hits of the aow.

 

[Parsnip]

-Added a new way to advance White Mask Varre’s questline other than participating in multiplayer invasion by defeating a new NPC

That's cool I guess. I was initially a bit bummed when I couldn't continue the quest as I was offline, but got over it pretty fast when I checked what the rewards for it were.

 

[Joe Spangle]

Hate to say it but i think im going to drop playing this. I think im near the end but the step up in difficulty is just a bit too much for me. Ive been grinding using the kill the bird exploit but i now need a lot of levels to help me out and not sure if i can be bothered.

Shame as its really a great game, probably my GOTY. I feel though for me it could've been half as big. I think im at 130 hours which is mad for a single playthrough. Would've preferred half this one and then a sequel next year or something.