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Another Elden Ring complaint, because I’m still not over this game:
Weapons and shields have special moves attached to them. A big part of what distinguishes unique weapons is their inventive special moves.
There’s only one special move button, and if you have equipment in both hands, it will always use the left-hand equipment.
There’s only one block button, and it also uses the left-hand equipment.
The most protective shield in the game has a built-in flamethrower for its special move. It’s slow to activate, has poor range, and can’t be replaced.
In my playthrough, I kept picking up new weapons with cool new moves, and I kept going “whatever. I can’t even use this unless I ditch this shield.”
Edit: post canceled. It turns out a shield I never got at the bottom of an annoying jumping puzzle is even more protective and can have its skill removed.
Weapons and shields have special moves attached to them. A big part of what distinguishes unique weapons is their inventive special moves.
There’s only one special move button, and if you have equipment in both hands, it will always use the left-hand equipment.
There’s only one block button, and it also uses the left-hand equipment.
The most protective shield in the game has a built-in flamethrower for its special move. It’s slow to activate, has poor range, and can’t be replaced.
In my playthrough, I kept picking up new weapons with cool new moves, and I kept going “whatever. I can’t even use this unless I ditch this shield.”
Edit: post canceled. It turns out a shield I never got at the bottom of an annoying jumping puzzle is even more protective and can have its skill removed.
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On the one hand, yay for Elden Ring buffing the Colossal Weapons. On the other hand, the patch also mentioned a buff to something called a Hammer Talisman. So I looked it up, and it would be perfect to use with my Giant Crusher, except the only enemy who drops it disappears from the game for no apparent reason after you beat certain bosses. WTF?
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I get that Elden Ring intentionally gives you situations where you have to decide who’s right and who’s wrong without knowing all the facts. What exactly did D do that made Fia want to kill him, and are you willing to forgive her for killing him? Did Sellen really kill people, or was it a trumped-up charge to get rid of her, and will you help Jerren kill her for it? Is the Volcano Manor’s cause ruthless but necessary, or are they just killing everyone who won’t support them?
(You know, I liked it when Dungeon Siege III had you decide a property dispute and nobody had to be killed over it. That was fun.)
Anyway, I feel like I could at least ask some questions at times. I’ve seen different players claim that Fia wants to get rid of immortality so everyone eventually dies and reincarnates, get rid of death so everyone becomes undead instead of reincarnating, and make it so undead can have positive karma. I thought Dung Eater wanted to make it so people couldn’t reincarnate and would wander as cursed spirits, but then he talks about the dead people he curses reincarnating and having children who would also carry whatever his curse is supposed to be. And I don’t even know where to start with what Ranni plans to do. All of these people seem like they’d answer if I asked them straight-up what they were planning.
(You know, I liked it when Dungeon Siege III had you decide a property dispute and nobody had to be killed over it. That was fun.)
Anyway, I feel like I could at least ask some questions at times. I’ve seen different players claim that Fia wants to get rid of immortality so everyone eventually dies and reincarnates, get rid of death so everyone becomes undead instead of reincarnating, and make it so undead can have positive karma. I thought Dung Eater wanted to make it so people couldn’t reincarnate and would wander as cursed spirits, but then he talks about the dead people he curses reincarnating and having children who would also carry whatever his curse is supposed to be. And I don’t even know where to start with what Ranni plans to do. All of these people seem like they’d answer if I asked them straight-up what they were planning.
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Miscellaneous complaints while replaying Elden Ring:
A lot of the giant bosses are hunched over at a 45 degree angle, so you can move in so close that your head is bonking their knees, and it’s still not close enough to hit their feet with a short-range weapon like the Visage Shield. And some of them only have a lock-on on their heads or their chests, which is too high up to reach with the Visage Shield, but you have to be locked on or else they’ll move to the side and get right past your attempt to block with the Visage Shield. Sometimes the lock-on even makes it so you turn backwards relative to whatever bizarre attack they’ve just pulled, especially if you’re standing too close (say, if you’re trying to hit with the Visage Shield.) The devs didn’t expect anyone to actually use the Visage Shield, did they?
So many crafting recipes say they’re for arrows, greatarrows, and bolts. Since I optimized my character to use the Visage Shield, the only ranged weapon I can use is one that fires greatbolts. I have one greatbolt crafting recipe, and even at 500 damage a shot, it’s easy to run out mid-fight.
I still hate the thing where you use an item during a fight, and you die without winning the fight, but the item is still gone. This has been irritating since Dark Souls 1.
There is something deeply weird about this game’s gender politics. I mean, you’ve got a woman who “lays with” dead people to bring them back to life, and a man who “defiles” dead people to bar them from reincarnation.
A lot of the giant bosses are hunched over at a 45 degree angle, so you can move in so close that your head is bonking their knees, and it’s still not close enough to hit their feet with a short-range weapon like the Visage Shield. And some of them only have a lock-on on their heads or their chests, which is too high up to reach with the Visage Shield, but you have to be locked on or else they’ll move to the side and get right past your attempt to block with the Visage Shield. Sometimes the lock-on even makes it so you turn backwards relative to whatever bizarre attack they’ve just pulled, especially if you’re standing too close (say, if you’re trying to hit with the Visage Shield.) The devs didn’t expect anyone to actually use the Visage Shield, did they?
So many crafting recipes say they’re for arrows, greatarrows, and bolts. Since I optimized my character to use the Visage Shield, the only ranged weapon I can use is one that fires greatbolts. I have one greatbolt crafting recipe, and even at 500 damage a shot, it’s easy to run out mid-fight.
I still hate the thing where you use an item during a fight, and you die without winning the fight, but the item is still gone. This has been irritating since Dark Souls 1.
There is something deeply weird about this game’s gender politics. I mean, you’ve got a woman who “lays with” dead people to bring them back to life, and a man who “defiles” dead people to bar them from reincarnation.
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If you think about it, every character in Elden Ring who’s associated with an ending is sinister in some way, and then only one of the endings is really “evil.”
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I love the degree to which Elden Ring has mainstreamed 4-armed girls. I once saw a 4-armed thread on Gurochan because the OP couldn’t find anywhere else that was interested.
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93 hours into Elden Ring, I’ve finally reached my “what is wrong with this dev why would they even do this” point. In most bossfights, I use my shield, attack from a distance with magic, or both. Dragons are tricky, because I can’t fully block their breath and they have longer range than my favorite spells, but they’ve been beatable so far. Now here comes the Fire Giant, a mandatory boss who can pound me into the ground with his gigantic shield from much, much farther away than even my arrow spell, and who hits so hard that even trying to block still takes off half my health. I’ve been grinding out HP upgrades on every optional boss I can find, and I still can’t take two hits in a row from this guy.
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Elden Ring is so confusing that despite completing Fia’s entire quest chain, I still can’t tell whether she wants to abolish immortality or abolish prejudice against immortal undead. She wants to make “death” an accepted part of the universe again, which would seem to be deathist given that no one in this setting stays dead, but apparently her idea of death is “living-in-death” and covers those who are properly undead rather than resurrectively immortal like the MC.
As an aside, of the three endings I know about so far, the only one where I have any idea what will happen is Dung Eater’s. He wants to abolish both immortality and reincarnation, make everyone die forever, and make their remaining lifetimes as miserable as possible, because fuck you all. Can’t say I see the appeal.
As an aside, of the three endings I know about so far, the only one where I have any idea what will happen is Dung Eater’s. He wants to abolish both immortality and reincarnation, make everyone die forever, and make their remaining lifetimes as miserable as possible, because fuck you all. Can’t say I see the appeal.
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Elden Ring’s open world was a good idea for a Soulslike game, but I’m not convinced it was a good idea for an actual FromSoft game. The big thing From does that its imitators don’t is opacity. You don’t know what you’re doing, so you feel like an explorer when you find something. But that works because the world feels large while actually being quite linear, so you’ll stumble across everything in the order you’re meant to. In a genuinely open world, you can miss things that should be essential. (I made a sorcery build, but accidentally missed most of the characters who teach better spells.)
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I’m playing Elden Ring
Strength increases physical defense. I guess that’s a thing.
Dexterity reduces spellcasting time. That would have been good to know thirty hours ago.
Arcane improves throwing knife damage. What in the—
Dexterity reduces spellcasting time. That would have been good to know thirty hours ago.
Arcane improves throwing knife damage. What in the—
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Minor Elden Ring nuisance: my scrawny caster takes a gigantic damage penalty with her heavy sword unless she uses it two-handed. When I switch to her staff, she holds that one-handed. Then every time I switch back to the sword, she holds it one-handed and does 1/5 damage until I remember to press the buttons to switch to two-handed.