Significant patch released today - more buffs than nerfs.
Looks good for mages and colossal weapon enjoyers (which have been v weak in this game). They have also sorted the carian retaliation bug which was egregiously bad. Patches npc storyline apparently was missing an ending - it did seem a bit abrupt.
They seem to be taking an incremental approach to balancing which is encouraging for the longer term - bleed is obv OP so they have adjusted the stagger and status build up. It’s probably still going to be v strong but we’ll see. Bleed started out super strong in DS3 and then got buried in a single update, never to be seen again as a viable build.
Fingerprint shield and bloodhound step still fucked but in Miyazaki we trust.
Apparently the patch has given Malenia a buff, if anyone was finding her too easy.
RE: Difficulty…most bosses can be cheesed through various tactics you may not even consider cheese. Foe instance last knight some crucible Knight was kicking my ass, and Im rolling everywhere and the camera is everywhere and Im screaming i cant even see this guy…next thing i knew I had his shield.
He fell off a cliff.
For me the only cheese that is too far is logging out and then doing various stuff.
Another note maybe some people may not know. Most games wont let you do workarounds to get buffs. Apparently not here. You can equip the Graftsword, use its buffs. Summon guys you may not be able to, then unequip the sword while still having its buffs for as long as they last.
I’d easily consider that cheese. But I also delightfully cheese bosses all the time. It’s hilarious to me to get some grimdark agent of death to slide off a cliff, trip down an elevator shaft or catch a faceful of rot-lava. Less entertaining (but still exploited) are things like standing on a ledge where you can’t be reached.
I don’t know if it’s “most” bosses, though. I’d say maybe 10-15%
Edit: Finally started my New Game+ and killed Godrick the Grafted with soap bubbles from my +10 doot horn. Totally worth it.
I like a definition of “cheese” I saw someone use on YouTube. Cheesing is using the intended functions of the game in a way that avoids interacting with the mechanics of the enemy. As opposed to “cheating” which would be using unintended functions of the game to beat enemies. I felt like the Radahn fight was pretty cheesy. There’s a way you can cheat Morgott apparently, by attacking him without going through the yellow fog.
I tried yesterday to drag the Bllaid spirit through some baskilisk fog….no good. Same encounter some guy dragged him to an elevator. I thought he was trying to get the boss to step on the elevator and then he’d send him away but no, the boss wouldn’t step on the pad. The YTer was just keeping the pad between the two of them
I just arrived in the Consecrated Snowfield. Now I can understand what people have been complaining about. This area and the village in it are horrible. I’m lvl 92 with 50 vigor and heavy armor and am getting one or two shot by every random mob. There is some giant ghost skeleton that pops up and takes me down to 25% life and staggers with no way to get away from the second hit. The village evergaol gimmick is beyond frustrating with the invisible assassins that pop up and backstab you for 75% life and input read to dash stab you when popping a potion. I have the torch that lets you see them but it’s useless unless they are right up in your ass already. I’ve read Haligtree is even worse which is hard to believe is possible.
I’ve got like 90hrs in the game, it’s been fun and I’ve enjoyed it quite a bit but it’s time for me to rush thru the rest and beat it before I get upset and quit.
If you’re looking to just wrap it up, you can skip Haligtree entirely. It’s not needed to end the story and is super obnoxious compared to the rest of the game. Plus you can always go back once you’ve added Elden Lord to your business cards.
As an example of when some people complain the game is “too big”
Im just looking for the Dung Eaters body…thats all i want. Just that. So im below the capitol city in the sewers, fine. I keep unlocking back doors. I guess. Bloody baskilisks though. Ok i get to the big boss. Surely the body will be right after that.
Oh no…theres an insane platforming well. I guess the body will be at the bottom.NOPE.
Ok now im at a gate and Melina is pleading with me not to do the frenzydoodledeeladeedat THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT??? Ok, I wont. I find a passage down and im STILL looking for this body.
Now, Im playing bloody Journey to the Center of the Earth. Ok, Ive had enough. I look it up. It was way behind me.
I mean, I love the game, but discovering yet another underground area while trying to find a different thing is a little frustrating.
Ironically, I found Dung Eater right away (mostly by accidentally falling through the floor grate) but got bored trying to finally locate the boss of the joint and going around in circles.
I’m fighting the Fire Giant now. My first attempt actually went really well, got him to 10% or so. Subsequent attempts haven’t gone so well.
I mentioned it upthread but its a real bummer how many wildly different weapons there are with lots of cool abilities or passives but you just can’t use 99% of the ones you find past mid game unless you dump a massive amount of crafting material into them.
I feel sort of the same about the summoning ashes but that’s more a question of usefulness. Get Mimic, Tiche and a tank (Dung Eater or a knight like Oleg, etc) ranked up and the other 20+ guys in your pocket and pretty pointless aside from very niche cases. Maybe Depraved Perfumer is kind of awesome in his own way but I’ll never know because he’s not going to compete with Tiche and flowers spent on him were better allocated elsewhere.
Yeah, like a cool weapons, a lot of stuff is useful early/mid game. Less so later on. I liked the regenerating skeletons but they eventually had to be retired.
