The "What are you playing now?" Thread

[Marcus]

@Jack Brickman, I've played more than enough Soulsborne games to realize that I should have noped the fuck out and avoided that guy until I was overleveled.

I've spent more time wandering around/exploring in Elden Ring than I have actually played the main questline. So many additional dungeons and field bosses.

What a fantastic game so far... although if you start with this one as a newcomer to the series, I can't guarantee that you're going to be happy with going back to the more linear gameplay of Soulsborne and Sekiro.

 

[Jack Brickman]

@Jack Brickman, I've played more than enough Soulsborne games to realize that I should have noped the fuck out and avoided that guy until I was overleveled.

I've spent more time wandering around/exploring in Elden Ring than I have actually played the main questline. So many additional dungeons and field bosses.

What a fantastic game so far... although if you start with this one as a newcomer to the series, I can't guarantee that you're going to be happy with going back to the more linear gameplay of Soulsborne and Sekiro.

Yeah I pretty much assumed he was gonna hand me my ass on a silver platter but he was ten feet away from a respawn point so no downside in trying.

 

[Ohio]

Finally got home yesterday and was able to put about 5 hours into Elden Ring. This game is amazing! Got my ass kicked for awhile but starting to get the hang of it, managed to beat a couple mini/dungeon bosses. Really loving it so far, it's quite the learning curve. I even nearly managed to kill that Tree Sentinel guy a couple times at a very low level. Should be able to beat him soon.

What a fantastic game so far... although if you start with this one as a newcomer to the series, I can't guarantee that you're going to be happy with going back to the more linear gameplay of Soulsborne and Sekiro.

I was going to ask about this, since the older Souls games are on sale right now. What are the main differences between them vs Elden Ring? From what I've read it's harder but can't find many details as to why. Also is dying different? Dying in Elden Ring really isn't a big deal as you just spawn back at the grace point. I recall reading in the past that dying in Souls games was a bigger deal.

 

[Marcus]

Finally got home yesterday and was able to put about 5 hours into Elden Ring. This game is amazing! Got my ass kicked for awhile but starting to get the hang of it, managed to beat a couple mini/dungeon bosses. Really loving it so far, it's quite the learning curve. I even nearly managed to kill that Tree Sentinel guy a couple times at a very low level. Should be able to beat him soon.


I was going to ask about this, since the older Souls games are on sale right now. What are the main differences between them vs Elden Ring? From what I've read it's harder but can't find many details as to why. Also is dying different? Dying in Elden Ring really isn't a big deal as you just spawn back at the grace point. I recall reading in the past that dying in Souls games was a bigger deal.

Dying isn’t as big a deal because there are grace points and Marika statues absolutely everywhere in this game.

This game is more forgiving and accessible than previous games, in my opinion. The big difference is the fact that Elden Ring is open world while previous games were linear. It also holds your hand a bit more.

 

[Ohio]

Dying isn’t as big a deal because there are grace points and Marika statues absolutely everywhere in this game.

This game is more forgiving and accessible than previous games, in my opinion. The big difference is the fact that Elden Ring is open world while previous games were linear. It also holds your hand a bit more.

How does dying work in Souls games, then?

 

[Marcus]

How does dying work in Souls games, then?

When you die, you drop all your souls, the in-game currency for merchants and leveling. If you can make it back, you can retrieve your dropped souls. You’ll spawn at the last bonfire you rested at. Those are fewer and further in between than in Elden Ring.

If you die before reaching the souls, they’re lost for good.

 

[Jack Brickman]

How does dying work in Souls games, then?

In previous games, save points were quite a bit further apart, and there were no autosave statues, so when you died, you'd both lose your souls (each series has its own version...they're runes here) and often have a long run back to retrieve them. Dying to a boss usually meant a five to ten minute run back to that boss where you would often be quickly killed again and forced to repeat the process. That's really what turned me off to previous games of this type.

They've mostly eliminated that in Elden Ring because there's usually a statue near each boss encounter and it's a major change for the better.

In general, though, dying worked exactly the same as it does here. Elden Ring is just better designed to eliminate the frustration that comes with dying.

 

[Chris]

Elden Ring is fucking awesome.

 

[Jack Brickman]

I'm level 23 and that fucking Tree Sentinel still kills me in one shot.

 

[Jack Brickman]

By the way, if any of you are just getting started in Elden Ring and want a video to help give you a quick path to upgrading your character a bit, this video is great:


Note that you can get the spirit summoning bell and the wolf ashes for free by going to the first church you see when you enter Limgrave at night and talking to the witch that shows up there. I got a cut-scene when I fast-traveled there, so not sure if you need to do that or just show up after dark, but it'll save you a few runes doing it that way as opposed to just buying them.

Also, the term overpowered is in quotes in the video title for a reason. You'll be more equipped to fight off the foes in the game, but most of them will still happily push your shit in.

 

[Chris]

I did Confessor - kinda wanted a melee type but with a few spells thrown in. Seems to start with plenty of Faith for now so I’ve just been pumping points in Vigor until I see what kind of weapons I find and then I’ll decide if I’m going str or dex. Probably str though, I’m guessing that would fit the paladin type of equipment better but you just never fucking know with From Software.

 

[Ohio]

I'm level 23 and that fucking Tree Sentinel still kills me in one shot.

I just went back to him around level 35 and whooped his ass.

 

[Jack Brickman]

I did Confessor - kinda wanted a melee type but with a few spells thrown in. Seems to start with plenty of Faith for now so I’ve just been pumping points in Vigor until I see what kind of weapons I find and then I’ll decide if I’m going str or dex. Probably str though, I’m guessing that would fit the paladin type of equipment better but you just never fucking know with From Software.

I'm doing an Astrologer build, so most of my points are going into intelligence, hence why my dude is still pretty squishy and dies easy. I've upgraded my wand a few times to scale with intelligence, so the more points I dump into it, the more damage I can potentially deal. Glass cannon, baby!

 

[Ohio]

I'm doing an Astrologer build, so most of my points are going into intelligence, hence why my dude is still pretty squishy and dies easy. I've upgraded my wand a few times to scale with intelligence, so the more points I dump into it, the more damage I can potentially deal. Glass cannon, baby!

Same here.

 

[Ohio]

Wanted to share a couple things that have helped me early on. These videos don't have spoilers per se, but do reveal some item/map locations (which, is the entire point of the videos, lol). If you're someone who wishes to discover anything and everything on your own, then you may not want to watch.

Anyway, if you're a Mage/Astrologer, or use a Staff at all, you can get an S tier staff from the very beginning of the game (easier if you get the Mount first). This Staff cannot be upgraded, but even still, it's incredible in early-game and likely at least viable in mid-game.



Next up: Rune farming. If you get stuck and need to level up, if you only have a limited time to play, if you're on a work call, or if you just wanna farm...doing this gets you 2000 runes per 30 seconds. All you need is the Mount to be able to do this.



That video also covers a mini-boss which is right next to this farm spot, that can also easily be killed in less than a minute with just a Mount and rewards you with over 40k runes and an Art of War.