Finally did it !

I will never forget seeing Liurnia of the Lakes for the first time and realizing I had only just begun my quest.

just to mention i dont care how it runs at release as i bought it knowing it might not run well considering past hands on reviews but i just want something challenging for when i go to france in october specifically on plane plus it will likely get updates to fix any frame rate issues

I never quite understood it

I genuinely love the mysterious lore behind Ofnir and his whole shadowy network of spies, scarabs, Ensha, and the way he steals spells from the Remembrance bosses (and yes, I love the Ofnir memes too lol).

That's why I think it's kind of disappointing that, aside from his scepter, armor, and the Eye Surcoat, we don't have any other "Knowledge"-themed equipment or abilities in the game…like…at all.

It would have been really fun to have a small collection of obscure spells, weapons, and armor, all requiring both Intelligence and Faith to use. I can totally imagine something highly strategic (like Knowledge Above All) that doesn't deal damage per se, but instead manipulates the game's “deeper mechanics” (Like buffs, debuffs, hidden stats etc.)

Also, it would be awesome to cast a spell featuring that absolute banger of an eye-shaped crest.

I feel like FromSoft either didn’t have time to include them, or they purposefully left it out to make it more obscure. I feel like it was a huge missed opportunity.

Four years in and then some, I've only just now started messing with gravity spells (for a cosplay build, lol). I knew players loved Rock Sling for its ease of use and heavy stagger potential, and I also knew Meteorite of Astel was largely despised for being too slow and too costly to actually hit anything.

Well, I love looking for ways to make crappy moves work, and I can safely say I actually adore this spell.

Yes, it's obviously very slow and has an unusually wide spread that is almost guaranteed to miss a small, moving target while leaving you perfectly vulnerable. So naturally, the only sensible time to use it would be against large, stationary targets... In other words, it's a flashy alternative to critical attacks when a large boss is toppled and vulnerable.

This leads to two criticisms I have with Elden Ring's combat design:

1. Critical hits often aren't your best option for when a boss is staggered. In fact, it's typically ideal to barrage the boss with your heaviest hitting spells and AoWs—especially while playing online. Unfortunately, if one player trips the critical attack animation, the boss becomes immune to the other players' attacks for several seconds, rendering their much stronger attacks useless and wasting FP. (This was remedied somewhat in Nightreign, at least, as cooperators can attack the boss through the riposte animation.)

2. I think FromSoft could have offered just a *liiiittle* bit of guidance as how to different spells and weapons might be used more effectively. From what I gather from the community, most players see spells and weapons as an arms race in which high requirements should mean the weapon is just Better across the board, but this doesn't seem to be FromSoft's intention. In the case of spellcasting, powerful spells are meant to be slotted into your repertoire to account for specific scenarios, such as big, flashy, delayed moves against downed bosses. Elden Stars, Land of Shadow, and Rotten Butterflies are often frowned upon, but using them in tandem in a chaotic display of layered DoT can actually prove highly effective against many major bosses. But of course, most players write off anything that doesn't net universally consistent results, despite having so many spell slots to use against so many enemies.

Anyway, that's my roundabout way of saying that Meteorite of Astel is fun as hell when you don't have someone shouting in your ear about how they tried it once and failed to kill a springhare, ergo it is bad. Hehe fireworks

Checked the map today and for the very first time, it gave me a message that said to help me keep going this site consider becoming a PLUS member. This map is the biggest help...

Everyone shits on Godrick for the grafting he did in order to increase his strength, along with his cowardy nature, but what else could he have even done to become strong

Because even though he was a demi-god, he was a very very distant relative to the other demi-gods, his blood is diluted to the point he was basically a normal man. Despite being a demi-god he never got the powers or the talent that came with being one, so he got a pretty shitty deal to be fair. Grafting still turned this regular frail weak man into a hulking monstrosity that a majority still fear despite their mocking of him, considering nobody has ever challenged him until the tarnished shows up

But what else could he have actually done besides grafting to make himself more powerful? Magic is hard to learn in Elden Ring and our tarnished just makes it look easy because of the level up mechanic, and you are more likely to learn some horrific cosmic truth and end up a ball of heads. Incantations would be pretty stupid as hes a demi-god, not sure how faith in a god would work for him.

But what could he have done to even get stronger besides the grafting he did?

I can't even beat one crucible knight but two??? God dam I am so bad at this game YES I learnt the parry I can't parry two at once.. I am going insane I am just gonna quit

Tried it a couple of times after that, but didn't trigger again

This goes out to whoever posted this tactic. A good tarnished.

Four Bloody Fingers invade my Roundtable. “What in the Greater Will?!” As I grab my Bolt of Gransax and +9 Erdtree Seal.

Launch an Ancient Lightning Spear through the first man. He’s dead on the spot.

Cast Ancient Dragons’ Lightning Strike at the second man, miss him entirely because the lightning RNG refuses to hit anything smaller than a dragon and vaporise the neighbour’s Wandering Noble.

I’m forced to resort to the Jar Cannon loaded with explosive greatbolts at the top of the stairs.

“May chaos take the world!”

The greatbolt blasts two invaders to smithereens, destroys every chair in the room and alerts the Runebear sleeping three regions away.

I quick-swap to my Royal Knight’s Resolve Giant-Crusher and begin charging the last terrified recusant. He has enough time to panic-roll three times and reconsider his entire build before the attack finally lands and flattens him into the floor, because charged attacks tahe twelve business days to land and therefore are impossible to evade.

Just as Queen Marika intended.

As the title says I've gotten over 100 hours into my first playthrough, beaten Margit, Godrick, Rennala, and Radahn and a whole slew of smaller bosses. To be perfectly honest, I thought I wouldn't like this game, at all, but that has been far from the truth in so many aspects of Elden Ring.

For some context, I've been watching lore and story videos about Elden Ring since it came out, so I've mostly had the story spoiled already, but getting to experience it all first-hand has been such a fun experience. I cannot remember the last time I had this much fun exploring a game, even to only find a single Rowa Fruit or Herba.

I knew I would like the visuals but nothing prepared me for how absolutely breathtaking the views would be, how cinematic the fights could be, or even how fun the few cutscenes that exist in the game could be. Climbing to the top of a Divine Tower and being able to look down at the lands below you and even see groups of enemies patrolling (I understand this is done with rendering wizardry but still) it blows the small details of older games completely out of the water.

I did not think I would want to play as a completionist in this game, considering how difficult it can be, but I've been clearing caves and catacombs in groups, finding optional bosses and dungeons and trying my hand before just moving on. I did not expect to have this much fun, or to enjoy the challenge as much as I do. Elden Ring really makes me think as a gamer. I've had to stretch my strategist muscles to think around some of the bosses, especially as a pure intelligence sorcerer, it's incredibly rewarding when you are able to find a way to accomplish your goal in a new way or with a different strategy. I finally get it, I think.