Octopus Overlords

LOL endgame mistake:

Well I took the plunge on this a couple of days ago for my PS4. I haven’t bought a new triple A game in a few years and have never played a From Software game before but this looks so good.

I made a Bandit and have played for a few hours but haven’t accomplished much. I have explored some of the first area but I can really only beat regular mobs. I haven’t had any luck with even the tiniest of mini bosses.

I won’t have much time to play for the next few days so I’ll mostly be wondering if I should restart as a magic user.


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Dramatist wrote: ↑Wed May 18, 2022 11:33 pm Well I took the plunge on this a couple of days ago for my PS4. I haven’t bought a new triple A game in a few years and have never played a From Software game before but this looks so good.

I made a Bandit and have played for a few hours but haven’t accomplished much. I have explored some of the first area but I can really only beat regular mobs. I haven’t had any luck with even the tiniest of mini bosses.

I won’t have much time to play for the next few days so I’ll mostly be wondering if I should restart as a magic user.


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You don't have to restart to be a magic user, just start putting points into Mind and INT. But you will have to beat an early boss to get access to more spells...

I picked this up this week on the PC but the performance is terrible, I am getting the 1 second hitches followed by speeding up, I have tried all the fixes but zero luck, it is making it unplayable for me

Beat the final boss (or my son did with my character) at level 261. A couple words of caution:

Right after the credits they will try to railroad you into starting a new NG+1 game. DO NOT say yes until you are 100% prepped up (worth it to watch a video). You can start one later at any grace spot.

Save a few Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stones for the endgame. There are only a handful in the game and you need one to take a premier item to level 10. I didn't know they were so limited and spent a couple unwisely.

I don’t know how many of those there actually are but I think I had 3-4 left at the end of thee game and I had used 2 of them. So they aren’t that rare.

Scuzz wrote: ↑Sat May 21, 2022 9:26 am I don’t know how many of those there actually are but I think I had 3-4 left at the end of thee game and I had used 2 of them. So they aren’t that rare.

There might be as many as 8, but a couple you get through quest lines that are easily borked. I erroneously thought there were plenty and wasted a couple on inferior weapons.

Beat Godrick last night on my third try (I'm now level 56). Feels like I'm finally into the story as I've mostly been just exploring the open world. Probably just in time as it felt like I had probably done most of the things I could do just exploring.

Elden Ring funnies!

Pyperkub wrote: ↑Sat May 21, 2022 2:57 pm Beat Godrick last night on my third try (I'm now level 56). Feels like I'm finally into the story as I've mostly been just exploring the open world. Probably just in time as it felt like I had probably done most of the things I could do just exploring.

Congrats, now on to the Royal Academy.

I got to play some more over the weekend and I don’t die nearly as often now. I do basically just run around every boss type mob and giant animal.

I keep finding interesting places that I look around for a bit and decide to come back later when I’m stronger.

I’ve watched some YouTube videos to try to figure out directions to explore with as few spoilers as possible but I still feel like a noob. I haven’t even gotten an achievement yet after about 10 hours of playing.

I did actually clear the mini bosses of a seaside cave where I summoned a phantom helper and they were behind a golden veil. That felt pretty good.


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I'm finally at one of the last 3 final locations (I believe)...but I got sidetracked this weekend after checking some maps and realizing there were still quite a few dungeons I'd missed. As I love the dungeons, I just had to go back and work on those.


So I'll be doing that for the next 7 weeks.....

I will say that I think it's quite literally impossible to see everything/advance all the quests without referring to guides. The series really does seem to rely on people relating things they stumble across so that others can find them. Not sure if that's great or awful though.

Dramatist wrote: ↑Mon May 23, 2022 9:51 am I got to play some more over the weekend and I don’t die nearly as often now. I do basically just run around every boss type mob and giant animal.

I keep finding interesting places that I look around for a bit and decide to come back later when I’m stronger.

I’ve watched some YouTube videos to try to figure out directions to explore with as few spoilers as possible but I still feel like a noob. I haven’t even gotten an achievement yet after about 10 hours of playing.

I did actually clear the mini bosses of a seaside cave where I summoned a phantom helper and they were behind a golden veil. That felt pretty good.


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yeah, this game *really* skimps on the early game achievements.

What level are you at? I think I got to 56 over the weekend.

Just checked and I’m only level 24.


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At level 279 I have cleared every dungeon and there is only one boss on my hit list*. Now I am farming some rare items. Eventually I will stock up on smithing and somber stones and try NG+1. It will give me an opportunity to get two of some powerful weapons.

*

Dramatist wrote: ↑Mon May 23, 2022 6:54 pm Just checked and I’m only level 24.


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FWIW, I've only gotten 4 achievements thus far. in months of playing (and 2 were just this weekend)... tho I've been more exploring than trying to level and push the main story - I'm also pretty much a Souls n00b, I may have played a couple of hours once on PC years and years ago...

It is most definitely NOT a game to quickly max achievements... which kind of annoys me - while achievements are meta games, a decently steady drip of them can keep a player going and not just dropping a game.

They could easily have done achievements for killing your first boss, killing X bosses, discovering new areas/maps, upgrading weapons/spirit tuning, etc. to drip feed players...

Dramatist wrote: ↑Mon May 23, 2022 9:51 am I haven’t even gotten an achievement yet after about 10 hours of playing.

I would say the first achievement would typically come in the first 10 hours. If you spend a lot of time exploring and not listening to what you are told, you could go beyond that, but the first one isn't very hard.

Pyperkub wrote: ↑Mon May 23, 2022 8:14 pm They could easily have done achievements for killing your first boss, killing X bosses, discovering new areas/maps, upgrading weapons/spirit tuning, etc. to drip feed players...

The game has that one landmark first achievement, then an achievement for each of the "real" bosses (dungeon bosses aren't achievement-worthy, I guess), then achievement for getting all this, all that and all the other thing and then the different endings.

I got them all in 148 hours. It could have pretty easily been done in half the time but I ran through with a second character and got the rest with that one.

I always thought achievements were kind of stupid. It seems you get them for beating required bosses. Where on PS4 do you even check how many you have (I looked 3 times).

Jaymann wrote: ↑Tue May 24, 2022 1:47 pm I always thought achievements were kind of stupid. It seems you get them for beating required bosses. Where on PS4 do you even check how many you have (I looked 3 times).

Trophy case as I recall. Haven't been on my PS4 Pro in a while...

I have 77% without trying. A couple very rares: Legendary Ashen Remains and Legendary Talismans.

Edit: While exploring I found I had actually missed a dungeon boss (had beat him on another character so didn't remember). My mimic beat him before I could even land a punch, but I got: which completed the Legendary Armament achievement.

hepcat wrote: ↑Mon May 23, 2022 9:55 am I'm finally at one of the last 3 final locations (I believe)...but I got sidetracked this weekend after checking some maps and realizing there were still quite a few dungeons I'd missed. As I love the dungeons, I just had to go back and work on those.


So I'll be doing that for the next 7 weeks.....

I will say that I think it's quite literally impossible to see everything/advance all the quests without referring to guides. The series really does seem to rely on people relating things they stumble across so that others can find them. Not sure if that's great or awful though.

I did that for quite a while before and after the final boss. The game is so huge that it just seemed normal to go after the bosses I had passed up earlier. And all the dragons I had avoided.

I have been playing a lot more and I feel that I’m getting much better at the gameplay.

I do tend to wander around and find many places that kill me but sometimes I find caves and crypts that I can clear.

I did beat Margit a couple of days ago but I want to get a little stronger before I try to clear out the castle.


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Dramatist wrote: ↑Thu Jun 02, 2022 4:36 pm I have been playing a lot more and I feel that I’m getting much better at the gameplay.

I do tend to wander around and find many places that kill me but sometimes I find caves and crypts that I can clear.

I did beat Margit a couple of days ago but I want to get a little stronger before I try to clear out the castle.


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Yeah, as I posted above, the Castle is tricky. I'd recommend the back way and you can come down and sweep out the artillery from behind. Watch out for birds tho...

Dramatist wrote: ↑Thu Jun 02, 2022 4:36 pm I have been playing a lot more and I feel that I’m getting much better at the gameplay.

I do tend to wander around and find many places that kill me but sometimes I find caves and crypts that I can clear.

I did beat Margit a couple of days ago but I want to get a little stronger before I try to clear out the castle.


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The castle is actually huge and contains a lot of goodies. But there are a few big enemies, mixed with some annoying ones. Take the time to look high and low while you are there.

I was playing the other night and fighting a boss who summons a bunch of supporting archers. My spirit and I were whittling him down while I was running around on the horse to stay out of pummeling range. All of a sudden I got hit by a couple of arrows and I got frozen and couldn't move at all. Needless to say, I got pummeled.

There's paralyzing arrows in this game? Wow! How do I get them?...

... oh, it was just my controller running out of batteries, at a VERY inopportune time.

p.s. Just found

Well, I think I’m about 9/10ths of the way now. Just got to the fire giant…who’s kicking my ass currently.

I’m pretty sure I’ll have logged 250 hours on my first playthrough.

hepcat wrote: ↑Sat Jun 11, 2022 8:59 pm Well, I think I’m about 9/10ths of the way now. Just got to the fire giant…who’s kicking my ass currently.

I’m pretty sure I’ll have logged 250 hours on my first playthrough.

FYI, theres a new zone after the fire giant.

Oh, I know. I think there’s actually two, but I could be wrong. But in a game this friggin’ huge, that’s still near the end.

There's a few new areas, but only one is required reading.

I just checked. 183 hours and level 137. Sheesh.

Am I past the refund window?

I am both impressed by your dedication and appalled by your glacial progress. I can't even imagine what you have done in the game for that long. I beat the game with two different characters and got the platinum trophy in a fifth of that time. Yes, I used a guide but I still did a lot of random wandering outside the bounds of that guide.

Well......long story short.....I suck.

I am hoping to finish before hitting the 800 hour mark.
I have just felled the Fire Giant, so I'm trying to focus on main goals and skipping all of the other distractions.

I know that some folks just leave the game running in the background on PCs while they do other stuff. I know Seppe does that, and sometimes in Steam I'll see like "900 hours" or something like that for Stellaris or some other game.

hepcat wrote: ↑Mon Jun 13, 2022 2:52 pm I know that some folks just leave the game running in the background on PCs while they do other stuff. I know Seppe does that, and sometimes in Steam I'll see like "900 hours" or something like that for Stellaris or some other game.

I wish that was the case.
Unfortunately, those are pretty accurate in-game hours, give or take a few......

You really got your money's worth!

Oh, and I have seen a few instances of Steam misreporting my hours for a game. Although usually it's less than what I believe I've spent playing one.

But if you think that that number is right, then more power to you. If you're having fun, who cares how long you play.

My issue is that I keep returning to areas I THOUGHT I'd completed, only to discover something I completely missed. Sometimes I'll find this out using a guide, but oftentimes I'll just return to a site of grace and go a different direction than I usually do, and voila...I'm faced with a giant pigeon with the head of Spiro Agnew speaking in Pig Latin and telling me it needs its diaper changed.

...have I mentioned how freakin' weird this game's characters are?

I stopped paying attention to it around the 300 hour mark.
Because I am having "fun".
And I was definitely getting sidetracked each and every time I set out to accomplish something.
Now I'm focused on finishing it up and things are moving along at a much brisker pace.

There's another patch out with no major changes. They did fix the quest with the giant pot guy that got borked for me, but that won't bring me back. For me there is no replayability since if you want to try a different build you can always re-spec into it. All they would need to do to suck me back in is offer a few new areas, bosses and quests in NG+. I'm out until/unless that happens.