From Software Elden Ring - From Software's new game with writing by GRRM

[Stoned Ape]

I levelled up to 30 after exploring a lot of Limgrave and a bit of the area to the east and found a Greatsword in a carriage which I decided to use. It's good to actually be able to stagger stuff. I then decided to go back and give Magrit another try while using the Jellyfish to distract him. Took me 4 tries to kill him and was left with about 10% of my health bar left. Proceeded to continue through the castle.

Fought one annoying knight with shield and greatsword that took me three tries to beat, then encountered another of the turd-bastards with a halberd. Five tries so far and I think I'm close to uninstalling this. Nothing I do seems to make a difference, I can stagger the cumstain but I'm left with no stamina to punish the fucker afterwards and it just gets up and kills me with one combo.

This game can be unimaginably frustrating, just when I think I'm getting better it bitchslaps me and makes me so angry I want to fly to Japan, meet whichever Fromsoft designer came up with these turd-knights and then kick him full force in the balls. I'm starting to think that anyone who enjoys this game must be a hard-core masochist.

 

[Skinwalker]

This game can be unimaginably frustrating, just when I think I'm getting better it bitchslaps me and makes me so angry I want to fly to Japan, meet whichever Fromsoft designer came up with these turd-knights and then kick him full force in the balls. I'm starting to think that anyone who enjoys this game must be a hard-core masochist.

I have never felt frustrated while playing 95% of this game, certainly not in the early game either. You're doing it wrong.

 

[Stoned Ape]

This game can be unimaginably frustrating, just when I think I'm getting better it bitchslaps me and makes me so angry I want to fly to Japan, meet whichever Fromsoft designer came up with these turd-knights and then kick him full force in the balls. I'm starting to think that anyone who enjoys this game must be a hard-core masochist.

I have never felt frustrated while playing 95% of this game, certainly not in the early game either. You're doing it wrong.

Thanks for the advice genius, nice to see you can live up to your tag if you really squeeze everything you can out of your working braincell.

 

[H. P. Lovecraft's Cat]

I levelled up to 30 after exploring a lot of Limgrave and a bit of the area to the east and found a Greatsword in a carriage which I decided to use. It's good to actually be able to stagger stuff. I then decided to go back and give Magrit another try while using the Jellyfish to distract him. Took me 4 tries to kill him and was left with about 10% of my health bar left. Proceeded to continue through the castle.

Fought one annoying knight with shield and greatsword that took me three tries to beat, then encountered another of the turd-bastards with a halberd. Five tries so far and I think I'm close to uninstalling this. Nothing I do seems to make a difference, I can stagger the cumstain but I'm left with no stamina to punish the fucker afterwards and it just gets up and kills me with one combo.

This game can be unimaginably frustrating, just when I think I'm getting better it bitchslaps me and makes me so angry I want to fly to Japan, meet whichever Fromsoft designer came up with these turd-knights and then kick him full force in the balls. I'm starting to think that anyone who enjoys this game must be a hard-core masochist.

I have a few tips that may help you out:

Spoiler

git gud

 

[Skinwalker]

This game can be unimaginably frustrating, just when I think I'm getting better it bitchslaps me and makes me so angry I want to fly to Japan, meet whichever Fromsoft designer came up with these turd-knights and then kick him full force in the balls. I'm starting to think that anyone who enjoys this game must be a hard-core masochist.

I have never felt frustrated while playing 95% of this game, certainly not in the early game either. You're doing it wrong.

Thanks for the advice genius, nice to see you can live up to your tag if you really squeeze everything you can out of your working braincell.

Generally, the first step is admitting that you have a problem. If you, like several other noobs itt, assume that soulsgames are designed to be frustrating and punishingly difficult, I am very helpfully telling you that you're wrong. And bad at this game. That's the first step. The rest is up to you. May the odds be ever in your favor.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

I levelled up to 30 after exploring a lot of Limgrave and a bit of the area to the east and found a Greatsword in a carriage which I decided to use. It's good to actually be able to stagger stuff. I then decided to go back and give Magrit another try while using the Jellyfish to distract him. Took me 4 tries to kill him and was left with about 10% of my health bar left. Proceeded to continue through the castle.

Fought one annoying knight with shield and greatsword that took me three tries to beat, then encountered another of the turd-bastards with a halberd. Five tries so far and I think I'm close to uninstalling this. Nothing I do seems to make a difference, I can stagger the cumstain but I'm left with no stamina to punish the fucker afterwards and it just gets up and kills me with one combo.

This game can be unimaginably frustrating, just when I think I'm getting better it bitchslaps me and makes me so angry I want to fly to Japan, meet whichever Fromsoft designer came up with these turd-knights and then kick him full force in the balls. I'm starting to think that anyone who enjoys this game must be a hard-core masochist.

Considering you've never before played any of the Souls games, if you find Elden Ring frustrating, then you should abandon it in favor of either Demon's Souls or Dark Souls.

However, you're probably not taking advantage of certain aspects of Elden Ring, such as weapon skills and Ashes of War. You can also consider exploring the remainder of Limgrave, including the Weeping Peninsula, before tackling Stormveil Castle.

 

[Silverfish]

I'm starting to think that anyone who enjoys this game must be a hard-core masochist.

Just spam Reduvia's weapon art. It'll take you a lot further than you'd think.

 

[Skinwalker]

I'm starting to think that anyone who enjoys this game must be a hard-core masochist.

Just spam Reduvia's weapon art. It'll take you a lot further than you'd think.

Definitely do not do this, unless you want to make the game extremely easy and repetitive and kill all your fun and immersion. Explains a lot about Silverturd's sour attitude towards Elden Ring, though, the scrub never got gut, started relying on cheap tricks like Blood Pistol, then comes in whinging about minor flaws to justify his incompetence.

 

[Damned Registrations]

I'm starting to think that anyone who enjoys this game must be a hard-core masochist.

Just spam Reduvia's weapon art. It'll take you a lot further than you'd think.

Spamming a powerful weapon art is indeed a good plan, there's plenty to choose from. I'm personally also a fan of shield poking with a rapier or spear. Because of the way poise works, being able to consistently hit enemies without giving them a breather tends to trigger staggers more often than you'd expect, even with a light weapon like a rapier. Impaling strike and giant's hunt are both crazy good weapon arts as well, if not as flashy as most.

I'd also suggest picking up a bit of magic for buffs or healing if you haven't already, even if you don't want to use it in combat. The souls genre is all about managing resources, and turning a flask worth of mana into 3 flasks worth of healing makes things a lot easier in the long run.

 

[Stoned Ape]

This game can be unimaginably frustrating, just when I think I'm getting better it bitchslaps me and makes me so angry I want to fly to Japan, meet whichever Fromsoft designer came up with these turd-knights and then kick him full force in the balls. I'm starting to think that anyone who enjoys this game must be a hard-core masochist.

I have never felt frustrated while playing 95% of this game, certainly not in the early game either. You're doing it wrong.

You're playing it wrong, then

 

[Odoryuk]

I levelled up to 30 after exploring a lot of Limgrave and a bit of the area to the east and found a Greatsword in a carriage which I decided to use. It's good to actually be able to stagger stuff. I then decided to go back and give Magrit another try while using the Jellyfish to distract him. Took me 4 tries to kill him and was left with about 10% of my health bar left. Proceeded to continue through the castle.

Fought one annoying knight with shield and greatsword that took me three tries to beat, then encountered another of the turd-bastards with a halberd. Five tries so far and I think I'm close to uninstalling this. Nothing I do seems to make a difference, I can stagger the cumstain but I'm left with no stamina to punish the fucker afterwards and it just gets up and kills me with one combo.

This game can be unimaginably frustrating, just when I think I'm getting better it bitchslaps me and makes me so angry I want to fly to Japan, meet whichever Fromsoft designer came up with these turd-knights and then kick him full force in the balls. I'm starting to think that anyone who enjoys this game must be a hard-core masochist.

The best advice is not to take it personally. I know a lot of people, both irl and on the internet that during the Dark Souls rise to fame tried the game and got so frustrated, they thought that them dying is somehow offensive to them. One of the dudes even refused to believe that people actually beat these game, because he couldn't, he thought people just pretended they beat the games, it was very fucked up. Most of these people still baffled that FS games got so popular, though some got into their games later.

If you're struggling with enemy encounters, try to change your tactics, try to act differently. Don't rush to kill enemies, observe how they behave, try to see safe windows to attack, learn how to kite enemies, learn how to separate them when a multiple enemies are attacking you. Figuring out these things is most fun you will ever have with the games, I miss these days, because all this information is engraved into my brain and I can't forget this information to keep the games fresh forever. It's still fun to replay them, FS are kings when it comes to replayability, but the first playthrough, especially if it's your first Soulsborne, is magical. Cherish it while you still can.

 

[Stoned Ape]

Spamming a powerful weapon art is indeed a good plan, there's plenty to choose from. I'm personally also a fan of shield poking with a rapier or spear. Because of the way poise works, being able to consistently hit enemies without giving them a breather tends to trigger staggers more often than you'd expect, even with a light weapon like a rapier. Impaling strike and giant's hunt are both crazy good weapon arts as well, if not as flashy as most.

I'd also suggest picking up a bit of magic for buffs or healing if you haven't already, even if you don't want to use it in combat. The souls genre is all about managing resources, and turning a flask worth of mana into 3 flasks worth of healing makes things a lot easier in the long run.

I guess the shield/rapier or spear poking build needs a decent investment into Endurance so you survive a few blocks without getting winded? My character has 20 at the moment (along with 20 Vigour and 22 Strength so I can two-hand the Greatsword). What sort of numbers should I be working towards to get this sort of playstyle working as an alternative when smashing things around doesn't work?

I've not had any points spare to put into magic or incantations yet. I started as a Hero so my highest mental is 11 Arcane, I think? Is it worth boosting Intelligence or Faith instead? Both are pathetically low at the moment.

 

[Stoned Ape]

Considering you've never before played any of the Souls games, if you find Elden Ring frustrating, then you should abandon it in favor of either Demon's Souls or Dark Souls.

However, you're probably not taking advantage of certain aspects of Elden Ring, such as weapon skills and Ashes of War. You can also consider exploring the remainder of Limgrave, including the Weeping Peninsula, before tackling Stormveil Castle.

I've looked at Ashes of War but at the moment none of the ones I have seem to actually boost the numbers on my main weapon (a +4 Greatsword) I think it's because my Strength isn't high enough to make up for the base weapon damage falloff.

I left the tower after venting here last night and found Blaidd in the woods and took on his quest, now I'm trying to hunt down a Hound Knight. I'll just keep killing things until I do. I did kill a giant for the first time, along with a massive bear that was sleeping in some ruins.

I think I need to branch out into some other weapons so I can swap what I have equipped to deal with different things. The Greatsword seems really useful against big things because of the extreme reach and good damage, but less effective against those knights because they can close fast and have stupidly high poise so it takes me a full stamina bar to stagger them even if every attack hits and I start it off with a fully charged R2 smack in the back.

 

[Stoned Ape]

If you're struggling with enemy encounters, try to change your tactics, try to act differently. Don't rush to kill enemies, observe how they behave, try to see safe windows to attack, learn how to kite enemies, learn how to separate them when a multiple enemies are attacking you. Figuring out these things is most fun you will ever have with the games, I miss these days, because all this information is engraved into my brain and I can't forget this information to keep the games fresh forever.

I've not had a problem with encounters in general, it's specifically these Banished Knights I'm having a problem with; they seem designed to specifically counter my main weapon and I don't have enough HP to survive if I make a mistake. The first one was difficult to evade because it spawned in a totally dark room and killed me while I was carrying a lot of runes, and every time I went back to pick the runes up again it would kill me. I finally managed to beat it after a lot of rolly-polly backstabbing.

The second one is in an awkward area with a big gap in the floor. I can surprise attack it with a charged R2, but the place it ends up where I engage makes it difficult for me to retreat because of the obstacles. I can't get a clean backstab earlier or much later in its patrol pattern and it takes all of my stamina to break its poise. I'm just going to come back later, it made me pissed off because I'd finally beaten the first boss and now this mob keeps slaughtering me and I lost 10k runes

 

[Damned Registrations]

Spamming a powerful weapon art is indeed a good plan, there's plenty to choose from. I'm personally also a fan of shield poking with a rapier or spear. Because of the way poise works, being able to consistently hit enemies without giving them a breather tends to trigger staggers more often than you'd expect, even with a light weapon like a rapier. Impaling strike and giant's hunt are both crazy good weapon arts as well, if not as flashy as most.

I'd also suggest picking up a bit of magic for buffs or healing if you haven't already, even if you don't want to use it in combat. The souls genre is all about managing resources, and turning a flask worth of mana into 3 flasks worth of healing makes things a lot easier in the long run.

I guess the shield/rapier or spear poking build needs a decent investment into Endurance so you survive a few blocks without getting winded? My character has 20 at the moment (along with 20 Vigour and 22 Strength so I can two-hand the Greatsword). What sort of numbers should I be working towards to get this sort of playstyle working as an alternative when smashing things around doesn't work?

I've not had any points spare to put into magic or incantations yet. I started as a Hero so my highest mental is 11 Arcane, I think? Is it worth boosting Intelligence or Faith instead? Both are pathetically low at the moment.

So the thing that matters most with shields is actually strength and encumbrance; because the amount of stamina lost when taking a hit is determined by the guard boost stat of a shield. Bigger, heavier shield > More guard boost. It's the % of stamina loss that the shield (or weapon, you can block with a 2 handed weapon as well) ignores. If you had 100 guard boost, attacks would cause no stamina loss at all. The second most important thing with shields is a hidden stat called hardness; this is what determines whether attacks bounce off it and interrupt a combo. It only goes up to 3, and even greatshields generally only have 2. But it's the difference between an enemy doing a 7 hit combo on your shield and draining your stamina, or bouncing off and looking retarded after the first swing. The third important thing with shields is just learning which attacks to block; but it's fairly intuitive. Thrusting, one handed, and quick attacks tend to be easier to block. If something is really easy to dodge or backpedal away from, you probably shouldn't block it. Though even then it's often a safe option if there's no follow up; you'll reel back but recover before you can get hit again. Also, upgrading your shield does boost guard boost a little. Not a big deal for early on, but makes a big difference later when you can apply 10 levels to a hefty shield. The last thing to remember is your stamina recovers very slowly while blocking; you don't need to time blocks perfectly by any means, but don't hold your shield up if your stamina is low and you're feeling safe.

In regards to magic, don't go out of your way to boost stats until you find a spell you think will be useful. Stats become a lot easier to come by as the game goes on as well; eventually having 20 points dumped into int or whatever won't feel like a big investment.

For ashes of war, the weapon art is often more important than the stat bonus. Giant hunt flings human sized enemies up into the air and basically lets you juggle them, ignoring their poise completely. Impaling strike does poise damage equivalent to a fully charged heavy attack and can also let you stunlock enemies. At that point doing 10% less damage doesn't really matter. They're definitely worth experimenting with to find something you really like.

 

[Multidirectional]

This game can be unimaginably frustrating, just when I think I'm getting better it bitchslaps me and makes me so angry I want to fly to Japan, meet whichever Fromsoft designer came up with these turd-knights and then kick him full force in the balls. I'm starting to think that anyone who enjoys this game must be a hard-core masochist.

Souls games have been getting harder with each installment so that they would remain challenging to players who played previous parts. Also developers themselves seem to have bought into the "Souls is super duper hard" meme, that was first perpetuated by shithead gaming journalists who never played anything harder than Assassin's Creed before they played Souls. And you started with the last Souls game, have fun.

 

[Stoned Ape]

I have a few tips that may help you out:

Spoiler

git gud

Strangely enough, I have a couple of tips for you... get sober and stop crying about Dragon's Dogma 2 losing a Codex popularity poll

 

[Odoryuk]

I've not had a problem with encounters in general, it's specifically these Banished Knights I'm having a problem with; they seem designed to specifically counter my main weapon and I don't have enough HP to survive if I make a mistake

Levelling Vigor is extremely proficient, as it continues to give you large numbers of added HP till the late 60s, IIRC. When I hear stories of difficult enemies oneshotting new players, low level of HP is always the culprit. Also, if you ever hugged Fia, then she sucked some of your max hp from you as well so you have to use Baldachin's Blessing item she gave you and then die for the debuff to wear off.

 

[Silverfish]

Definitely do not do this, unless you want to make the game extremely easy and repetitive and kill all your fun and immersion. Explains a lot about Silverturd's sour attitude towards Elden Ring, though, the scrub never got gut, started relying on cheap tricks like Blood Pistol, then comes in whinging about minor flaws to justify his incompetence.

You got me. Weapon art spam is why I don't like the removal of equipment durability, the compass / markers, stamina being turned off outside of combat, repetitive dungeons / bosses, lower production values and is why the setting and characters don't do anything for me. Seems obvious in retrospect.

 

[Skinwalker]

You got me. Weapon art spam is why I never got gut.

Yes.

the compass

It's a literal compass that shows north/south/etc. You keep pretending this is a valid complaint. You're still retarded.

markers

Can be useful in an open-world game, also, the game will never automatically set them for you, so if you don't like this feature just don't use it, lol. "Oh no, I have the optional ability to mark a location on the map that I never need to use if I don't want it, UBISOFT TRASH!!"

stamina being turned off outside of combat

Quality of life improvement that should have been there since Demon Souls. Therefore, UBISOFT TRASH!

lower production values

Stop breathing.

 

[Odoryuk]

Quality of life improvement that should have been there all along

They didn't even care to explain why it doesn't deplete when you're not in combat, to the point where you can handle 2-3 strikes to an unsuspecting enemy without spending stamina. It's a very bad addition and I hope it won't be replicated in their next game.

 

[Skinwalker]

They didn't even care to explain why it doesn't deplete when you're not in combat

Because it's a video game.

 

[Silverfish]

It's a literal compass that shows north/south/etc.

Yes, and it shouldn't be there. Previous games in the series managed to make their settings memorable and thus easy to navigate without cluttering the HUD.

Quality of life improvement that should have been there all along. Therefore, UBISOFT TRASH!

"The games should have always been dumbed down" is an interesting take.

Stop breathing.

"Concept art is a perfectly valid way to introduce the setting and isn't a lazy cost-cutting measure at all. Reusing assets to fill up the open world actually makes the game cooler. If the giant swords monument was intriguing the first time, it's mind-blowing by the tenth."

"Oh no, I have the optional ability to mark a location on the map that I never need to use if I don't need it, UBISOFT TRASH!!"

If it were just map markers, that'd be fine, but the accompanying beam of light that appear on-screen is stupid and is Ubisoft-tier.

 

[Odoryuk]

They didn't even care to explain why it doesn't deplete when you're not in combat

Because it's a video game.

They can do better. A better system would be a danger proximity feature, where if you're out of danger your stamina doesn't deplete when you're running and deplete when you're attacking, but restores extremely fast, which also informs you on how much stamina is needed for each weapon action. And it should work on enemy proximity radius, not on enemy aggro state as it currently works.

 

[Skinwalker]

Yes, and it shouldn't be there.

Oh, but it should.

"The games should have always been dumbed down" is an interesting take.

Running out of stamina while sprinting outside of combat does not make the game more sophisticated in any way, shape or form.

"The game is breathtakingly pretty as a picture, just about any random location looks like a desktop wallpaper material, and the amount of talent, vision and effort into this world is jaw-dropping."

Yes.

If it were just map markers, that'd be fine, but the accompanying beam of light that appear on-screen is stupid and is Ubisoft-tier.

Can be useful in an open-world game, also, the game will never automatically set them for you, so if you don't like this feature just don't use it, lol. "Oh no, I have the optional ability to mark a location on the map that I never need to use if I don't want it, UBISOFT TRASH!!"

They didn't even care to explain why it doesn't deplete when you're not in combat

Because it's a video game.

They can do better. A better system would be a danger proximity feature, where if you're out of danger your stamina doesn't deplete when you're running and deplete when you're attacking, but restores extremely fast, which also informs you on how much stamina is needed for each weapon action. And it should work on enemy proximity radius, not on enemy aggro state as it currently works.

It works perfectly fine as it is and removes a lot of frustration that results from repetitively having to slow down and wait for stamina to recover all the time. And who said that every gameplay feature requires an "explanation"? It's a video game lol.

If anything, their clumsy attempts to "explain" multiplayer features with some dumb "parallel universes are colliding" throwaway line is autism that should not have been attempted in the first place. The "explanation" for why the PC and basic enemies constantly respawn but boss enemies do not is even worse, as it makes literally no sense.