*** Elden Ring ***

All that is useful information. To elaborate on things the game makes less clear, but is well-known to previous Souls players:

When you look at a weapon's stats, the letters under different character attributes tell you how well that weapon scales with the relevant stat. E.g. if a weapon has B under strength, that indicates "B scaling" with that stat. Which is good, but not the best. It goes (from best to worst scaling): S, A, B, C, D, E.

S scaling is quite rare and A is not very common either, but it means that each point in the relevant stat will add a lot to the weapon's base damage. The amount added by scaling is the number after the + sign and the first number is the base damage.

Upgrading weapons increases the base damage and the scaling. If a weapon moves up a scaling tier after upgrading that is a big bonus (this won't happen every upgrade level).

A weapon with lower base damage but better scaling will be worse for a low-level player or one who hasn't invested in the relevant stat, but much better for a player with a high level in the stat. At low levels you will probably want high base damage and will be less concerned with scaling, but as you get your str/dex/fth/int up into and over the mid-20s or so you will start to benefit more from weapons that scale on your highest stat(s).
 
I have not played any souls games. I have been watching people play this and reading this thread.

I have not yet got this game.

I'm an old timer gaming wise, been around since the start of pc gaming.

I feel games these days are too easy, and the kids today. Just can't handle dieing in games. They want everything handed to them. Why can't I see this enemy from miles away. Why can't I one shot it. I need x-ray vision. I want to be told where to go and what to do.

As for people saying Elex2 (I think that's what it's called). Looks worse quest given, you must go here and do this.

As for graphics, everyone wants eye candy, and moan. I miss the days of game play over graphics. Yes nice graphics are great, but game play must be the main point in games.
 
Another thing that isnt explained, that I wish there were tooltips for, are the icons under your health bar. I've absolutely no idea what half of them are or of anyway to actually find out what they are. I assume they are bonuses or buffs or debuffs, but not a clue what they signify. Really should be a way to at least get a tooltip on them or something
 
@strumpusplunket Cheers for that too.

Think I must have missed the first trader somehow but will bear in mind the info I’ve read on here when I next play.

I’m all for less handholding in games but the developer does appear to have assumed that anyone playing this game will have played their previous titles too and no explanations are needed.
 
Another huge tip that isn't a spoiler that is arguably even more important than anything else.

Your total armour equip and weapon weight affects your rolling or dodging speed.

At medium dodge you roll MUCH faster than heavy, even heavy armour wearers like my class are best at medium weight roll speed. The game tells you this in stats.

So wearing better heavier armour or heavier weapons isn't always better. If you've seen some ghost players running without armour or missing pieces, that likely why.

Always aim for medium roll or less unless going full tank and that only really worked well in Dark Souls 1.

Another big one, not all shields block all damage, but some do block most normal attacks, check the Physical Guard Negation stat, if it's 100, you can play as a tank, but it won't block a lot of boss or magic attacks. Blocks also use a lot of stamina.

Other shields can still be useful even without full physical block for magic shields or other affects, etc.
 
strumpusplunket said:
All of that would have been ruined if I could see a quest marker guiding me to it or a quest log giving me precise directions
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Indeed. Quest markers suck. I think people get it wrong that when elden ring is critiqued for being too hard or not guiding enough, they assume quest markers are what is wanted. It definitely isn't. It's more a reason and understanding of what you're doing. If you meet a guy that says he needs help South of misty woods, there's no loss to have this auto added in a notes/quest log, but that's all. Nothing else given other than the basic information you get from the guy you spoke to.
.

Getting out a pen and paper seems unnecessary
 
pretty sure since that last patch my stutter is greatly reduced as in its almost gone but the bloodstains still dont work :)

not progressed much into the big castle i went exploring after killing margit and got teleported to some place called bestial sanctum from a chest, found it a decent rune farming spot the guys walking around gave me about 1000 runes each and they were pretty manageable on the horse, level 37 at the moment and using a lordsworns greatsword +3 which seems to be doing the job.

loving this game :)
 
I just beat that guy too. He was quite intense. First time he smashed a glowy hammer into my head to kill me before I had even had time to see what was coming. "Oh, so you can do that can you?"

Second time I gave in to temptation and summoned the NPC, thus breaking my usual rule of never summoning for bosses in Souls games. My first attempt made it feel like this boss might be built for that, and summoning feels a bit more built into this game. Anyway, yes, excuses, excuses, and I will just have to owe this guy a solo kill in NG+!

Anyway, I got him down to maybe 3 or 4% of health without too much bother second time with the old dude grabbing aggro and slinging spells before he inevitably died. But then I got the Souls greed-jitters and took a couple of hits when I should have been more cautious. I tried to calm my playstyle, but then rolled not far enough and took a wild swing. And saw the last of my hitpoints disappear. :(

I was feeling a tiny bit ragey at how indescribably tiny his remaining sliver of lifebar was, when I noticed... hang on, he doesn't have any life bar at all... "Great enemy felled"... Say what? "You died." Well, duh! But what happens now? I don't think I've ever had that happen before.

Sure enough, he stayed dead and my runes were there waiting for me in the arena, including the ones I would have earned from killing him.

So I guess I won. And lost.
 
Crashed for me during the character creation. :(

I read online that the game has lots of issues... I'm wondering of it's best just to wait a bit for things to get fixed first.

Crashing during character creation is not a good sign.

Plus ideally I want to play it with the RT when ever that comes.

My issue though is my pc is in a loft conversion I've got untill perhaps start of May (depending on how hot and sunny April) to game, after that this pc will be off untill Sep - Oct time.

So game time is now or never.

---

Also cant for the life of me choose a class. Did a random pick and ended up with wretch!

Suffice to say I didn't go with that option! :p
 
opethdisciple said:
Crashed for me during the character creation. :(

I read online that the game has lots of issues... I'm wondering of it's best just to wait a bit for things to get fixed first.

Crashing during character creation is not a good sign.

Plus ideally I want to play it with the RT when ever that comes.

My issue though is my pc is in a loft conversion I've got untill perhaps start of May (depending on how hot and sunny April) to game, after that this pc will be off untill Sep - Oct time.

So game time is now or never.

---

Also cant for the life of me choose a class. Did a random pick and ended up with wretch!

Suffice to say I didn't go with that option! :p
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Play now, all I have encountered is a few few framerate issues and the odd crash. Doubt you will be playing with RT anytime soon. :)

I am running a similar setup, 3080 FE and 3900X, runs fine on the whole but its locked to 60 fps anyway.
 
Loving this game now, upgraded the bloodfang sword to level 2 and just killed the boss at the castle entrance after about 10 attempts. I am at the stage now where if I die it's usually my fault for rushing in sword swinging. I find the game very atmospheric loving the lore.
Running the FPS unlocked via flawless wide screen seems to smooth out the FPS although stutter is still there.
 
strumpusplunket said:
I just beat that guy too. He was quite intense. First time he smashed a glowy hammer into my head to kill me before I had even had time to see what was coming. "Oh, so you can do that can you?"

Second time I gave in to temptation and summoned the NPC, thus breaking my usual rule of never summoning for bosses in Souls games. My first attempt made it feel like this boss might be built for that, and summoning feels a bit more built into this game. Anyway, yes, excuses, excuses, and I will just have to owe this guy a solo kill in NG+!

Anyway, I got him down to maybe 3 or 4% of health without too much bother second time with the old dude grabbing aggro and slinging spells before he inevitably died. But then I got the Souls greed-jitters and took a couple of hits when I should have been more cautious. I tried to calm my playstyle, but then rolled not far enough and took a wild swing. And saw the last of my hitpoints disappear. :(

I was feeling a tiny bit ragey at how indescribably tiny his remaining sliver of lifebar was, when I noticed... hang on, he doesn't have any life bar at all... "Great enemy felled"... Say what? "You died." Well, duh! But what happens now? I don't think I've ever had that happen before.

Sure enough, he stayed dead and my runes were there waiting for me in the arena, including the ones I would have earned from killing him.

So I guess I won. And lost.
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yeh i noticed his hp was down to a hit or 2 and he was raging on my one, i some how managed to get 1 hit in then realised i needed another one to finish him, with out prior souls game experience i would have failed and got greedy, i rolled in when he was lifting his hammer and dodged a bit and got the final hit, the sense of satisfaction is amazing :)

edit: when he lifts his hammer roll in and get a hit or 2 in, he isnt as scary as he looks :)
 
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strumpusplunket said:
All that is useful information. To elaborate on things the game makes less clear, but is well-known to previous Souls players:

When you look at a weapon's stats, the letters under different character attributes tell you how well that weapon scales with the relevant stat. E.g. if a weapon has B under strength, that indicates "B scaling" with that stat. Which is good, but not the best. It goes (from best to worst scaling): S, A, B, C, D, E.

S scaling is quite rare and A is not very common either, but it means that each point in the relevant stat will add a lot to the weapon's base damage. The amount added by scaling is the number after the + sign and the first number is the base damage.

Upgrading weapons increases the base damage and the scaling. If a weapon moves up a scaling tier after upgrading that is a big bonus (this won't happen every upgrade level).

A weapon with lower base damage but better scaling will be worse for a low-level player or one who hasn't invested in the relevant stat, but much better for a player with a high level in the stat. At low levels you will probably want high base damage and will be less concerned with scaling, but as you get your str/dex/fth/int up into and over the mid-20s or so you will start to benefit more from weapons that scale on your highest stat(s).
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Very useful, thank you. Whilst my Google search is filled with 'how do you...in elden ring", you can't search if you don't understand what you're looking at.
 
Something else I noticed last night when playing around with potential upgrades at the smith: ashes of war not only change your weapon's ability, they can also change the scaling. I haven't quite figure it out yet, but it looks like they also work like infusions from previous Souls games. So it looks possible to make heavy weapons scale off Int for instance, or increase Str scaling in the way the old heavy infusions did. It can also add magic, holy, fire, frost, poison damage at the cost of base physical damage.

I didn't find anything that added enough to be worth it for me yet, but I'd not really paid any attention to ashes of war up to this point and they look they will open up some useful possiblities for augmenting my build.
 
strumpusplunket said:
Something else I noticed last night when playing around with potential upgrades at the smith: ashes of war not only change your weapon's ability, they can also change the scaling. I haven't quite figure it out yet, but it looks like they also work like infusions from previous Souls games. So it looks possible to make heavy weapons scale off Int for instance, or increase Str scaling in the way the old heavy infusions did. It can also add magic, holy, fire, frost, poison damage at the cost of base physical damage.

I didn't find anything that added enough to be worth it for me yet, but I'd not really paid any attention to ashes of war up to this point and they look they will open up some useful possiblities for augmenting my build.
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Unless they've changed the system, split scaling isn't worth it unless you're massively stacked in 1 stat and really want to use a weapon. Say for example your Str scaling weapon has physical 140 +40. You then switch to magical scaling and it now has physical 80 + 23 and magic 80 + 23. On paper that looks great, combined damage is 160 + 43. However, each damage type has to roll against the enemies defence, so with split scaling you have to roll twice, thus drastically reducing your damage potential.
 
benjii said:
Unless they've changed the system, split scaling isn't worth it unless you're massively stacked in 1 stat and really want to use a weapon. Say for example your Str scaling weapon has physical 140 +40. You then switch to magical scaling and it now has physical 80 + 23 and magic 80 + 23. On paper that looks great, combined damage is 160 + 43. However, each damage type has to roll against the enemies defence, so with split scaling you have to roll twice, thus drastically reducing your damage potential.
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Yeah, I can't remember finding it too useful in general, but there are some niche cases where it's helpful.

One is where an enemy has a strong weakness to an element. In previous games I tried to keep two or even three versions of my preferred weapons, one with heavy infusion and one with chaos/fire and one lightning. This let me switch up depending on boss weakness. Granted I did this only very rarely, but I did like my collection of Lothric Greatswords. I even switched to Vordt's Hammer in DS3 for frost-weak enemies despite not really liking the moveset. The good thing about this new system is - unless I have this totally wrong from my experimenting - you can switch ashes on the fly. So if you are in an area with fire-weak enemies, pop on a fire ash, and then switch it out again for another area. (I may have that totally wrong...)

The other case would be the one your refer to - if you are heavily specced into Int or Fth with only the base required stat in Str or Dex. A 60 Int 14 Str character, for instance, would gain a lot from a magic infusion on a straight sword.

I've seen some people saying bleed is currently extremely powerful, but I have no idea if it's worth infusing or what level you would need in Arcane to make it worthwhile.
 
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