Elden Ring

I mentioned I bought it in another thread. I'm up to 39 hours
according to steam. That's probably fairly accurate as I've been
better about closing it.

Tech/Look-
I'm still running it on my 950 GTX, which is about 1/3rd to 1/6th of
the minimum recommended specs. One of the tips I found for getting it
to work was to run it at 720p and use NVIDA upscaling to native
resolution (1080p for me) that seems to be working pretty well for me
and it doesn't look all blurry like just running it at 720p. I also of
course have everything low and off - except grass which is limited to a
minimum of medium. I'm running about 45-60 fps most areas. I did have
one boss that slowed down to about 20. I've had a couple CTDs but
considering how much I've played it, 2 CTDs in 40 hours isn't too bad.

It's very vibrant and bright in the first open area, but dips into
more dark souls look once you get out of that area. It looks more
like a cross between Skyrim/breath of the wild/and dark souls than
just dark souls. It still looks superior to DS3 at 1080p, but having
watched some videos of people playing on a high end computer I know
I'm missing out on some beautiful scenery, and I'm still checking
prices and availability on newer video cards regularly. I'm not a
graphics whore, and what I see isn't bothering me, but after seeing
the gameplay on high end it's hard not to want to upgrade knowing the difference. I still just can't justify over $500 for a low-mid range
current card - I'm looking at a AMD 6600 XT which I had found for
$550, unfortunately that one's gone and the lowest is now $619.

Gameplay-
If you don't mind avoiding a couple of the early open world bosses,
and being careful not to agro everything in an area, it's not too
hard. I finally managed to kill the one I'd been avoiding and trying
off and on when I was level 30, as well as a 'real boss' at that point
(real boss being one that gives an achievement.) They added
crouch/stealth which makes killing almost any regular lone mobs really
easy, they also added a guard attack, which lets you retaliate when
something hits your block, which works well against most humanoid
mobs, and jump can now be done instead of rolling - actually jumping
over attacks, and you can do a heavy downward attack while jumping.
You can also easily hunt down most animals and get small amounts of
runes (which are the souls i.e. xp/money of ER.)

On the harder side, it feels like the closest early bosses are
insanely hard even in comparison to DS3, but you can avoid/leave those
for later. Also dogs/wolves are no longer stunned by fire, nor stunned
by blocks, and come in larger packs, and are difficult to deal with
along side other mobs. Short monsters such as dogs and rats are also
short enough many weapons just pass over their heads, which seems like
a stupid mistake for a game to make.

I've been swapping between three characters, an Astrologist which is a
mage, a cleric/pyromancer type (they were rolled together in ER) and a
Hero -strength character. I've actually found the Hero far easier
this go so far, and that's the one that's level 30, while the other
two are around level 15. I'm trying hard to curtail my talkaholic
tendencies, but I want to try everything out. Unfortunately progress
is much slower in this game than previous ones, there's so much to
explore and do. Too much IMHO. I know many people love open world
games, but I definitely prefer the more focused areas of Dark Souls.

Just as an aside on how long this game might be, people have been
speculating level 150 for 'meta' (i.e. finish the game and do PVP) So
that probably means 200 hours for me at this rate. Though I took far longer
on all the previous ones, so it might balloon up quite a bit.

On the plus side of the open world, I think I've only died in combat
from gravity once. I've fallen off cliffs still when exploring a
whole lot though, but it's pretty easy to get back and pick up your
runes anywhere that's not dense in mobs. Even then as long as it's
not also indoors where you can't use your mount, you can usually ride
in and pick them up and ride away.

I also don't like the collecting & crafting. It's not really hard to
collect as you go, and the crafting isn't too bad - you can do it
anywhere easily. I just find it slightly annoying. I haven't even
really crafted much, mostly the item that allows you to see summon
signs, and those are easy to find ingredients for and make. You can
make arrows & bolts too, but I haven't really been using ranged except
with spells.

On the too much in the open world side, while I've tried to avoid
spoilers, I felt like I was just wasting my time with what I was
doing. So I started to go to the wiki to find things, not to mention
even with stuff I've learned it's easier than taking notes and
referring to them.

Some things feel like they took the ideas from mods for DS3, and it
feels very much like the Cinders mod for DS3. They added summoning
items which lets you summon spirit mobs to aid you, but they're only
available in some areas. There's also a ton of mini-bosses all over
the place, I feel like I've killed at least 10 different ones so far.

I've not got far with spells, but I do appreciate they seem more
varied, the astrologer starts with an arrow type spell, and a fan
spell, which is really good for large groups of weak mobs - they
didn't have anything like that in DS3. Of course they didn't really
have large groups of weak mobs in DS3 either. My cleric/pyromancer
only started with a melee fire spell, which usually isn't worth using,
and I only just got a ranged one, but there's so many mobs, and it's
awfully expensive in mana cost that it doesn't really feel like it's
good to use yet either. That's somewhat of a problem with the
Astrologer too, but their spells are much more cost effective.
Unfortunately I've not found any mental stat scaling weapons yet (well
I got one on my cleric, but it needs 30 fai, which would probably be
at level 50 or so) so they're both really weak against regular mobs
since there's so many and don't have the mana to spam them. You do
get some mana (and health) potions back occasionally when you've wiped
out a group of enemies, except in dungeons which helps a little.
Neither have been able to deal with mounted enemies with spells
because they're too fast and avoid them, and they can't use mounted
combat well because they need melee weapons for that, or spells I
haven't discovered yet.

My Hero on the other hand just picked up a four pronged ship anchor
which is classed as a 'great axe.' That things real fun and looks
hilarious!

Overall I'm not anywhere as in to ER as I was DS3. I'm not feeling a
burning desire to play. But I'm mostly enjoying the game, and I'm not
stuck unable to progress, it just feels slow going. A bit more leisurely.
I don't regret buying it, even at full price.

Thus ends my overly long early report on Elden Ring.

- Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Am 07.03.22 um 21:31 schrieb Justisaur:

Thus ends my overly long early report on Elden Ring.

Thanks for the report...
Not sure if any of the DS games are really for me, the times are over
where I would spend hours to beat a boss!

I have to give Bloodborne on the PS4 a shot, which I have to see if that
style of game still fits me.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Thus ends my overly long early report on Elden Ring.

I played some last night -- only at 16 STR now -- and finally managed to kill a giant after many tries, and practicing riding the horse. Haven't
tried any boss yet :) just wandering around the starting area, limdale or whatever. there are secrets I don't know how to access, like a tree that's asking for help :)

- Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

"Justisaur" wrote in message news:f0a3afd0-c7b2-42b4-a9d1-3c058a471c89n@googlegroups.com...

Elden Ring

I mentioned I bought it in another thread. I'm up to 39 hours
according to steam. That's probably fairly accurate as I've been
better about closing it.

Tech/Look-
I'm still running it on my 950 GTX, which is about 1/3rd to 1/6th of
the minimum recommended specs. One of the tips I found for getting it
to work was to run it at 720p and use NVIDA upscaling to native
resolution (1080p for me) that seems to be working pretty well for me
and it doesn't look all blurry like just running it at 720p. I also of
course have everything low and off - except grass which is limited to a
minimum of medium. I'm running about 45-60 fps most areas. I did have
one boss that slowed down to about 20. I've had a couple CTDs but
considering how much I've played it, 2 CTDs in 40 hours isn't too bad.

It's very vibrant and bright in the first open area, but dips into
more dark souls look once you get out of that area. It looks more
like a cross between Skyrim/breath of the wild/and dark souls than
just dark souls. It still looks superior to DS3 at 1080p, but having
watched some videos of people playing on a high end computer I know
I'm missing out on some beautiful scenery, and I'm still checking
prices and availability on newer video cards regularly. I'm not a
graphics whore, and what I see isn't bothering me, but after seeing
the gameplay on high end it's hard not to want to upgrade knowing the difference. I still just can't justify over $500 for a low-mid range
current card - I'm looking at a AMD 6600 XT which I had found for
$550, unfortunately that one's gone and the lowest is now $619.

Gameplay-
If you don't mind avoiding a couple of the early open world bosses,
and being careful not to agro everything in an area, it's not too
hard. I finally managed to kill the one I'd been avoiding and trying
off and on when I was level 30, as well as a 'real boss' at that point
(real boss being one that gives an achievement.) They added
crouch/stealth which makes killing almost any regular lone mobs really
easy, they also added a guard attack, which lets you retaliate when
something hits your block, which works well against most humanoid
mobs, and jump can now be done instead of rolling - actually jumping
over attacks, and you can do a heavy downward attack while jumping.
You can also easily hunt down most animals and get small amounts of
runes (which are the souls i.e. xp/money of ER.)

On the harder side, it feels like the closest early bosses are
insanely hard even in comparison to DS3, but you can avoid/leave those
for later. Also dogs/wolves are no longer stunned by fire, nor stunned
by blocks, and come in larger packs, and are difficult to deal with
along side other mobs. Short monsters such as dogs and rats are also
short enough many weapons just pass over their heads, which seems like
a stupid mistake for a game to make.

I've been swapping between three characters, an Astrologist which is a
mage, a cleric/pyromancer type (they were rolled together in ER) and a
Hero -strength character. I've actually found the Hero far easier
this go so far, and that's the one that's level 30, while the other
two are around level 15. I'm trying hard to curtail my talkaholic
tendencies, but I want to try everything out. Unfortunately progress
is much slower in this game than previous ones, there's so much to
explore and do. Too much IMHO. I know many people love open world
games, but I definitely prefer the more focused areas of Dark Souls.

Just as an aside on how long this game might be, people have been
speculating level 150 for 'meta' (i.e. finish the game and do PVP) So
that probably means 200 hours for me at this rate. Though I took far longer
on all the previous ones, so it might balloon up quite a bit.

On the plus side of the open world, I think I've only died in combat
from gravity once. I've fallen off cliffs still when exploring a
whole lot though, but it's pretty easy to get back and pick up your
runes anywhere that's not dense in mobs. Even then as long as it's
not also indoors where you can't use your mount, you can usually ride
in and pick them up and ride away.

I also don't like the collecting & crafting. It's not really hard to
collect as you go, and the crafting isn't too bad - you can do it
anywhere easily. I just find it slightly annoying. I haven't even
really crafted much, mostly the item that allows you to see summon
signs, and those are easy to find ingredients for and make. You can
make arrows & bolts too, but I haven't really been using ranged except
with spells.

On the too much in the open world side, while I've tried to avoid
spoilers, I felt like I was just wasting my time with what I was
doing. So I started to go to the wiki to find things, not to mention
even with stuff I've learned it's easier than taking notes and
referring to them.

Some things feel like they took the ideas from mods for DS3, and it
feels very much like the Cinders mod for DS3. They added summoning
items which lets you summon spirit mobs to aid you, but they're only
available in some areas. There's also a ton of mini-bosses all over
the place, I feel like I've killed at least 10 different ones so far.

I've not got far with spells, but I do appreciate they seem more
varied, the astrologer starts with an arrow type spell, and a fan
spell, which is really good for large groups of weak mobs - they
didn't have anything like that in DS3. Of course they didn't really
have large groups of weak mobs in DS3 either. My cleric/pyromancer
only started with a melee fire spell, which usually isn't worth using,
and I only just got a ranged one, but there's so many mobs, and it's
awfully expensive in mana cost that it doesn't really feel like it's
good to use yet either. That's somewhat of a problem with the
Astrologer too, but their spells are much more cost effective.
Unfortunately I've not found any mental stat scaling weapons yet (well
I got one on my cleric, but it needs 30 fai, which would probably be
at level 50 or so) so they're both really weak against regular mobs
since there's so many and don't have the mana to spam them. You do
get some mana (and health) potions back occasionally when you've wiped
out a group of enemies, except in dungeons which helps a little.
Neither have been able to deal with mounted enemies with spells
because they're too fast and avoid them, and they can't use mounted
combat well because they need melee weapons for that, or spells I
haven't discovered yet.

My Hero on the other hand just picked up a four pronged ship anchor
which is classed as a 'great axe.' That things real fun and looks
hilarious!

Overall I'm not anywhere as in to ER as I was DS3. I'm not feeling a
burning desire to play. But I'm mostly enjoying the game, and I'm not
stuck unable to progress, it just feels slow going. A bit more leisurely.
I don't regret buying it, even at full price.

Thus ends my overly long early report on Elden Ring.

- Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Tuesday, March 8, 2022 at 6:53:21 AM UTC-8, rms wrote:

Thus ends my overly long early report on Elden Ring.

I played some last night -- only at 16 STR now -- and finally managed to
kill a giant after many tries, and practicing riding the horse. Haven't
tried any boss yet :) just wandering around the starting area, limdale or whatever. there are secrets I don't know how to access, like a tree that's asking for help :)

The giants are tough early on. It took me awhile to get used to the goat (horse with horns?) attacks as those are new. I've found longer weapons
seem to work better mounted, greatswords seem to work pretty well.
most of the weapons I can use on my mage and cleric are really bad
mounted - short spear, rapier, short sword, etc. I end up 2-handing
the bastard sword on my cleric mounted, and I found a weapon mod to
make it do holy damage scaling from fai, which makes it pretty respectable.

I think I finally got more of a handle on the mage and I just use spells mounted now, which takes running away, stopping, pointing in the general direction of enemies and then casting a couple times at most and repeat.
I have to go rest a bit more often than the other characters due to running through my mana, and I'm in deep if I run across anything resistant to magic. That's pretty similar to DS3 in that respect, but I could at least get a fire gem and raw gem on weapons pretty early that only scale off of
enchantment and I haven't found anything like that yet. I have found
the spell that makes weapons magic, but it doesn't last long (same
as DS3) and the damage is still magic, so it doesn't help with resistant enemies.

The tree guy is useless as far as I can tell. Once you figure out how to
talk to him he tells you he can go collect something for you at a
certain place, but if you go there he just disappears. He may be bugged
or may appear again later, not sure.

There's a lot of hidden stuff all over, but it's mostly in difficult to access or just notice places. Many places you have to jump to mounted.

- Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 08/03/2022 08:04, Werner P. wrote:

Am 07.03.22 um 21:31 schrieb Justisaur:

Thus ends my overly long early report on Elden Ring.

Thanks for the report...
Not sure if any of the DS games are really for me, the times are over
where I would spend hours to beat a boss!

I have to give Bloodborne on the PS4 a shot, which I have to see if that style of game still fits me.

It's certainly not, as far as I can tell anyway, the type of game I'd
like either. Saying that, it seems to be a real hit with gamers which I
think has to be a positive as it does show that you can have successful
big budget games that aren't games as a service.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Monday, March 7, 2022 at 12:31:13 PM UTC-8, Justisaur wrote:

I've had a couple CTDs but
considering how much I've played it, 2 CTDs in 40 hours isn't too bad.

CTDs have increased considerably, I get some connecting to other
players for co-op. I'm also getting some randomly, which seem
to increase until I reboot. It felt like an average of about 1 every 20 minutes, but more clusters of several in a row. Crashes seem
to be a common issue with the game from what I'm reading,
most of them seem to be blue screens or 'white screens' though
I'm getting the little box that says windows detected a problem
and is closing the program/collecting data to send to Microsoft.

Obviously my computer's not really up to the game and the random
ones feel like it's when my fans are going full blast so that could be
HW related. Although happening after I haven't rebooted in awhile
feels more like a memory leak, perhaps a combination. I suppose
the connection CTDs could be similar related to HW but it feels
more like something going on with either Easy Anti-Cheat or the
game code.

It's odd I went something like 10-20 hours between crashes
previously (and I think those were the co-op connection ones)
and been through areas where they happened with my another
character with no issues.

- Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Wednesday, March 9, 2022 at 1:31:16 AM UTC-8, JAB wrote:

On 08/03/2022 08:04, Werner P. wrote:

Am 07.03.22 um 21:31 schrieb Justisaur:

Thus ends my overly long early report on Elden Ring.

Thanks for the report...
Not sure if any of the DS games are really for me, the times are over
where I would spend hours to beat a boss!

I have to give Bloodborne on the PS4 a shot, which I have to see if that style of game still fits me.

It's certainly not, as far as I can tell anyway, the type of game I'd
like either. Saying that, it seems to be a real hit with gamers which I
think has to be a positive as it does show that you can have successful
big budget games that aren't games as a service.

Yeah, it's amazing a AAA game without loot boxes, microtransactions, in
game advertisements and/or subscription and even though with some
issues is in a finished state got made and released.

- Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

CTDs have increased considerably,

As a counterpoint, I've had zero issues after 18hrs. I'm still screwing around and dying pointlessly, just starting to realize that I need to level
up and learn how to use the many powerups etc. It's a lovely game, when you get a good videocard you'll want to replay this for sure :)

rms

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Thursday, March 10, 2022 at 7:31:51 AM UTC-8, rms wrote:

CTDs have increased considerably,

As a counterpoint, I've had zero issues after 18hrs. I'm still screwing around and dying pointlessly, just starting to realize that I need to level up and learn how to use the many powerups etc. It's a lovely game, when you get a good videocard you'll want to replay this for sure :)

rms

I didn't realize at the time, but windows was probably downloading updates
when that was happening. It had a version update shortly after I posted.
I've seen big windows updates cause all kinds of problems at work until
they're finished.

I haven't had any more CTDs since the update, including the ones when
joining co-op. O.K. maybe one, I don't remember for sure. I've been playing a lot, probably 12-15 more hours over the last couple days.

I'm not really into the crafting, I made some of the fingers you need for summoning players, but you get those for free if once you get the finger
to put down a sign to help others you kill a boss, so didn't really need them. I made some fire bombs and horse food, and used them a little, but they
haven't seemed really worth the effort. I tried some poison on a couple
mobs, but a couple were immune, and another it was doing so little (like
10 a second and it probably had a couple thousand) that again it didn't
seem worth it.

Of course weapon plus, ashes, and healing/mana flask upgrades
and leveling up is well worth it though.

I found one weapon art ash of war that was doing around 400-500
damage for only 6 fp on my mage, which is way better than any of
my spells/weapons (yes it's in the newbie area), and was spamming
that all over the place. I only noticed hours later that it damages you.
I'm not sure how many times that contributed to my death and I didn't
even realize it!

- Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 09/03/2022 16:50, Justisaur wrote:

On Wednesday, March 9, 2022 at 1:31:16 AM UTC-8, JAB wrote:

On 08/03/2022 08:04, Werner P. wrote:

Am 07.03.22 um 21:31 schrieb Justisaur:

Thus ends my overly long early report on Elden Ring.

Thanks for the report...
Not sure if any of the DS games are really for me, the times are over
where I would spend hours to beat a boss!

I have to give Bloodborne on the PS4 a shot, which I have to see if that >>> style of game still fits me.

It's certainly not, as far as I can tell anyway, the type of game I'd
like either. Saying that, it seems to be a real hit with gamers which I
think has to be a positive as it does show that you can have successful
big budget games that aren't games as a service.

Yeah, it's amazing a AAA game without loot boxes, microtransactions, in
game advertisements and/or subscription and even though with some
issues is in a finished state got made and released.

The technical issues are certainly a bit of a down vote so it'll be
interesting to see how the devs handle the situation.

It's kinda weird that we've got ourselves into a situation where is
feels that it's almost accepted than games can be released with some
relatively problematic issues.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Here is another write up. I am interested in what Justisaur thinks
about this one.

The title is "I love Elden Ring's Sorcery, but it might be too good"

https://www.pcgamer.com/i-love-elden-rings-sorcery-but-it-might-be-too-good/?utm_campaign=XPG_NWL

I keep thinking about buying this game but not at $60 right now.
Besides, I have Dark Souls 3.

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Friday, March 11, 2022 at 10:31:41 AM UTC-8, PW wrote:

Here is another write up. I am interested in what Justisaur thinks
about this one.

The title is "I love Elden Ring's Sorcery, but it might be too good"

https://www.pcgamer.com/i-love-elden-rings-sorcery-but-it-might-be-too-good/?utm_campaign=XPG_NWL

I keep thinking about buying this game but not at $60 right now.
Besides, I have Dark Souls 3.

Well I just beat the first real boss that people complain about
with a sorcerer - about level 40 I think. I don't have any really
good spells, but the little starting spell works well, and that's
mostly what I defeated him with, that and a summoned spirit
and a summoned NPC to distract him, both do negligable
damage, so it's just distraction.

I wouldn't say the sorcerer is really any better than my str
character so far, and as I mentioned before I found starting
it to be considerably harder. I'm not dying as much with
either as when I started, but still dying quite a bit. All it takes
is getting cornered, or knocked off your horse (which stuns you.)

The game is a lot easier in the one way described in that article,
it's possible to clear a large area and level up a lot, such that
things you found hard initially are easy later. There's also paths
around almost all the bosses so far. That's somewhat possible
to do in DS1 & 2 though it probably requires spoilers or prior
knowledge.

That's almost impossible in DS3 due to the first boss blocking
your path before you can upgrade anything, it is possible after
that to go some places and pick powerful stuff up early, but
that in itself tends to be so hard that it's harder than following
the standard path.

On the other hand it's also possible to get into some really
hairy situations which can be impossible to get out of if
you find yourself in a higher level zone than your character,
especially in DS1. I had a similar situation in ER a couple times
but I managed to find a way out relatively quickly.

- Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Fri, 11 Mar 2022 14:47:11 -0800 (PST), Justisaur
<justisaur@gmail.com> wrote:

On Friday, March 11, 2022 at 10:31:41 AM UTC-8, PW wrote:

Here is another write up. I am interested in what Justisaur thinks
about this one.

The title is "I love Elden Ring's Sorcery, but it might be too good"

https://www.pcgamer.com/i-love-elden-rings-sorcery-but-it-might-be-too-good/?utm_campaign=XPG_NWL

I keep thinking about buying this game but not at $60 right now.
Besides, I have Dark Souls 3.

Well I just beat the first real boss that people complain about
with a sorcerer - about level 40 I think. I don't have any really
good spells, but the little starting spell works well, and that's
mostly what I defeated him with, that and a summoned spirit
and a summoned NPC to distract him, both do negligable
damage, so it's just distraction.

I wouldn't say the sorcerer is really any better than my str
character so far, and as I mentioned before I found starting
it to be considerably harder. I'm not dying as much with
either as when I started, but still dying quite a bit. All it takes
is getting cornered, or knocked off your horse (which stuns you.)

The game is a lot easier in the one way described in that article,
it's possible to clear a large area and level up a lot, such that
things you found hard initially are easy later. There's also paths
around almost all the bosses so far. That's somewhat possible
to do in DS1 & 2 though it probably requires spoilers or prior
knowledge.

That's almost impossible in DS3 due to the first boss blocking
your path before you can upgrade anything, it is possible after
that to go some places and pick powerful stuff up early, but
that in itself tends to be so hard that it's harder than following
the standard path.

On the other hand it's also possible to get into some really
hairy situations which can be impossible to get out of if
you find yourself in a higher level zone than your character,
especially in DS1. I had a similar situation in ER a couple times
but I managed to find a way out relatively quickly.

- Justisaur

*--

Thanks J - I think I am not going to hurry back to DS3.

In the latest PC Gamer in the column "Must Play" the gal is
recommending Dark Souls 1 since she completed it although she never
though she would. I just looked it up on Steam and saw there is a
revised edition for $40 but I read the reviews and some people were
disgusted with it because of how hard it is.

She also recommends "Powerwash Simulator". hehe.

But also Disco Elysium (which I must get back into soon), Portal 2,
Outer Wilds and Hitman 2.

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Friday, March 11, 2022 at 4:54:05 PM UTC-8, PW wrote:

On Fri, 11 Mar 2022 14:47:11 -0800 (PST), Justisaur
<just...@gmail.com> wrote:

On Friday, March 11, 2022 at 10:31:41 AM UTC-8, PW wrote:

Here is another write up. I am interested in what Justisaur thinks
about this one.

The title is "I love Elden Ring's Sorcery, but it might be too good"

https://www.pcgamer.com/i-love-elden-rings-sorcery-but-it-might-be-too-good/?utm_campaign=XPG_NWL

I keep thinking about buying this game but not at $60 right now.
Besides, I have Dark Souls 3.

Well I just beat the first real boss that people complain about
with a sorcerer - about level 40 I think. I don't have any really
good spells, but the little starting spell works well, and that's
mostly what I defeated him with, that and a summoned spirit
and a summoned NPC to distract him, both do negligable
damage, so it's just distraction.

I wouldn't say the sorcerer is really any better than my str
character so far, and as I mentioned before I found starting
it to be considerably harder. I'm not dying as much with
either as when I started, but still dying quite a bit. All it takes
is getting cornered, or knocked off your horse (which stuns you.)

The game is a lot easier in the one way described in that article,
it's possible to clear a large area and level up a lot, such that
things you found hard initially are easy later. There's also paths
around almost all the bosses so far. That's somewhat possible
to do in DS1 & 2 though it probably requires spoilers or prior
knowledge.

That's almost impossible in DS3 due to the first boss blocking
your path before you can upgrade anything, it is possible after
that to go some places and pick powerful stuff up early, but
that in itself tends to be so hard that it's harder than following
the standard path.

On the other hand it's also possible to get into some really
hairy situations which can be impossible to get out of if
you find yourself in a higher level zone than your character,
especially in DS1. I had a similar situation in ER a couple times
but I managed to find a way out relatively quickly.

- Justisaur

*--

Thanks J - I think I am not going to hurry back to DS3.

In the latest PC Gamer in the column "Must Play" the gal is
recommending Dark Souls 1 since she completed it although she never
though she would. I just looked it up on Steam and saw there is a
revised edition for $40 but I read the reviews and some people were
disgusted with it because of how hard it is.

I personally wouldn't buy or play any of the Dark Souls games right now
because of the severs being shut down. I know you weren't interested
in the co-op/pvp, but really it's not the same without it, and much much
easier to fight bosses with others.

Elden Ring I'm not really seeing much point in co-op though as there's
the ash summons which seem better in general, and it opens you to
invasions. At least the ER severs are working.

She also recommends "Powerwash Simulator". hehe.

Oooh Kaaaaay.

Overwhelmingly positive on steam... weird. I've seen some of the most
popular games on Roblox that my son likes. I do not get them. One of
them was "Cleaning Simulator."

But also Disco Elysium (which I must get back into soon), Portal 2,
Outer Wilds and Hitman 2

Well I did like Portal 2. DE just wasn't for me, I like my combat. OW &
HM2 (I think) I haven't tried.

PS - I found a 3060 TI on sale from Newegg, and bought it, hope it's
o.k. as their rep isn't that good anymore.

- Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

I misstyped. She said Hitman 3.

Thanks for the advice. And some of the reviews of DS mentioned the
bad stuff with PCs getting taken over when playing on-line.

Good luck with your new card! It has been a while since I ordered
something from NewEgg but they were always good to me.

I am glad they had some stock for you! And I am glad I upgraded my pc
last year!

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 12/03/2022 03:36, Justisaur wrote:

On Friday, March 11, 2022 at 4:54:05 PM UTC-8, PW wrote:

On Fri, 11 Mar 2022 14:47:11 -0800 (PST), Justisaur
<just...@gmail.com> wrote:

On Friday, March 11, 2022 at 10:31:41 AM UTC-8, PW wrote:

Here is another write up. I am interested in what Justisaur thinks
about this one.

The title is "I love Elden Ring's Sorcery, but it might be too good"

https://www.pcgamer.com/i-love-elden-rings-sorcery-but-it-might-be-too-good/?utm_campaign=XPG_NWL

I keep thinking about buying this game but not at $60 right now.
Besides, I have Dark Souls 3.

Well I just beat the first real boss that people complain about
with a sorcerer - about level 40 I think. I don't have any really
good spells, but the little starting spell works well, and that's
mostly what I defeated him with, that and a summoned spirit
and a summoned NPC to distract him, both do negligable
damage, so it's just distraction.

I wouldn't say the sorcerer is really any better than my str
character so far, and as I mentioned before I found starting
it to be considerably harder. I'm not dying as much with
either as when I started, but still dying quite a bit. All it takes
is getting cornered, or knocked off your horse (which stuns you.)

The game is a lot easier in the one way described in that article,
it's possible to clear a large area and level up a lot, such that
things you found hard initially are easy later. There's also paths
around almost all the bosses so far. That's somewhat possible
to do in DS1 & 2 though it probably requires spoilers or prior
knowledge.

That's almost impossible in DS3 due to the first boss blocking
your path before you can upgrade anything, it is possible after
that to go some places and pick powerful stuff up early, but
that in itself tends to be so hard that it's harder than following
the standard path.

On the other hand it's also possible to get into some really
hairy situations which can be impossible to get out of if
you find yourself in a higher level zone than your character,
especially in DS1. I had a similar situation in ER a couple times
but I managed to find a way out relatively quickly.

- Justisaur

*--

Thanks J - I think I am not going to hurry back to DS3.

In the latest PC Gamer in the column "Must Play" the gal is
recommending Dark Souls 1 since she completed it although she never
though she would. I just looked it up on Steam and saw there is a
revised edition for $40 but I read the reviews and some people were
disgusted with it because of how hard it is.

I personally wouldn't buy or play any of the Dark Souls games right now because of the severs being shut down. I know you weren't interested
in the co-op/pvp, but really it's not the same without it, and much much easier to fight bosses with others.

Elden Ring I'm not really seeing much point in co-op though as there's
the ash summons which seem better in general, and it opens you to
invasions. At least the ER severs are working.

She also recommends "Powerwash Simulator". hehe.

Oooh Kaaaaay.

Overwhelmingly positive on steam... weird. I've seen some of the most popular games on Roblox that my son likes. I do not get them. One of
them was "Cleaning Simulator."

I understand simulators for activities you might not otherwise get to do
but one's that you can and are considered chores, nope don't really get
that.

But also Disco Elysium (which I must get back into soon), Portal 2,
Outer Wilds and Hitman 2

Well I did like Portal 2. DE just wasn't for me, I like my combat. OW &
HM2 (I think) I haven't tried.

DE is, as I've mentioned quite a few times, one of my favourite games of
all time but if you like your combat then it really isn't the game for
you. I've always thought it was very much a marmite game. It also seemed
to bring out the crowd of I don't like politics in my games which in my experience means I don't like politics I disagree with in my games.

Outer Wilds (not to be confused with Outer Worlds) is a beautiful and interesting game and although I very much liked it I'm not sure it's
quite deserves the acclaim it received. Worth a look but like DE it's
not a game for everyone*.

PS - I found a 3060 TI on sale from Newegg, and bought it, hope it's
o.k. as their rep isn't that good anymore.

Congrats, well unless they send you a broken one and then blame it on you!

* - I know that's a well used term but can't it really apply to any game?

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

PS - I found a 3060 TI on sale from Newegg, and bought it, hope it's
o.k. as their rep isn't that good anymore.

Wow! That'll be a *huge* improvement for you, let us know how it is!

rms

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Saturday, March 12, 2022 at 1:52:44 PM UTC-8, rms wrote:

PS - I found a 3060 TI on sale from Newegg, and bought it, hope it's
o.k. as their rep isn't that good anymore.

Wow! That'll be a *huge* improvement for you, let us know how it is!

I paid $659, still quite a bit over the $399 MSRP, and more than I said
I would pay, but after looking at the 3dMark, it was a price/performance
better than anything I've seen in the last month looking almost every day.
It's the one with the LHR (limits performance for bitcoin mining), but that
*shouldn't* matter more than a % or two on games.

I should be getting it sometime Tuesday. I may have to wait until then
to keep playing. I was exploring Stormveil Castle the last couple days and
I'm getting bad slowdowns there, and the enemies are fading in and
out. At first I thought they were supposed to do that. I saw a video where one teleported, but I haven't found anything else about them fading in and
out. I'm thinking maybe it's running out of video memory, after all minimum specs call for 3GB and my card has 2. It's hard to fight them when you can't see them and the FPS is hitting in the teens. :/

Still no crashes since the windows update at least.

- Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Mon, 14 Mar 2022 18:59:28 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<justisaur@gmail.com> wrote:

On Saturday, March 12, 2022 at 6:01:29 PM UTC-8, Justisaur wrote:

On Saturday, March 12, 2022 at 1:52:44 PM UTC-8, rms wrote:

PS - I found a 3060 TI on sale from Newegg, and bought it, hope it's
o.k. as their rep isn't that good anymore.

Wow! That'll be a *huge* improvement for you, let us know how it is!

I paid $659, still quite a bit over the $399 MSRP, and more than I said
I would pay, but after looking at the 3dMark, it was a price/performance
better than anything I've seen in the last month looking almost every day. >> It's the one with the LHR (limits performance for bitcoin mining), but that >> *shouldn't* matter more than a % or two on games.

I should be getting it sometime Tuesday. I may have to wait until then
to keep playing. I was exploring Stormveil Castle the last couple days and >> I'm getting bad slowdowns there, and the enemies are fading in and
out. At first I thought they were supposed to do that. I saw a video where >> one teleported, but I haven't found anything else about them fading in and >> out. I'm thinking maybe it's running out of video memory, after all minimum >> specs call for 3GB and my card has 2. It's hard to fight them when you can't >> see them and the FPS is hitting in the teens. :/

Woo Hoo! I got it a day early! Only had about an hour and a half with it so >far, I can max the settings now at 1020p (my monitor's native resolution.) >running mostly 59-60fps (game capped.) but getting some dips into as
low as 45 in some areas. I did get about a 3 second freeze at one point >though, I thought for sure it was going to CTD, but it recovered.

It looks really beautiful now! I'm tempted to start over again so I can see >the first part of the game in all it's glory.

I did some testing before I got it, and was able to get the mobs to show if
I dropped the resolution to 800x600, so definitely the old card, and man is >it ugly and hard to tell what things and numbers are at 800x600!

- Justisaur

*---

Congrats Justisaur! That is the NewEgg that I remember.

Start over? Aren't you a zillion hours into it already?

Maybe you should try God of War now? Is 1080p HD?

Guess what I am downloading right now?

Nevermind. No comment ;-)

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Saturday, March 12, 2022 at 6:01:29 PM UTC-8, Justisaur wrote:

On Saturday, March 12, 2022 at 1:52:44 PM UTC-8, rms wrote:

PS - I found a 3060 TI on sale from Newegg, and bought it, hope it's
o.k. as their rep isn't that good anymore.

Wow! That'll be a *huge* improvement for you, let us know how it is!

I paid $659, still quite a bit over the $399 MSRP, and more than I said
I would pay, but after looking at the 3dMark, it was a price/performance better than anything I've seen in the last month looking almost every day. It's the one with the LHR (limits performance for bitcoin mining), but that *shouldn't* matter more than a % or two on games.

I should be getting it sometime Tuesday. I may have to wait until then
to keep playing. I was exploring Stormveil Castle the last couple days and I'm getting bad slowdowns there, and the enemies are fading in and
out. At first I thought they were supposed to do that. I saw a video where one teleported, but I haven't found anything else about them fading in and out. I'm thinking maybe it's running out of video memory, after all minimum specs call for 3GB and my card has 2. It's hard to fight them when you can't see them and the FPS is hitting in the teens. :/

Woo Hoo! I got it a day early! Only had about an hour and a half with it so far, I can max the settings now at 1020p (my monitor's native resolution.) running mostly 59-60fps (game capped.) but getting some dips into as
low as 45 in some areas. I did get about a 3 second freeze at one point though, I thought for sure it was going to CTD, but it recovered.

It looks really beautiful now! I'm tempted to start over again so I can see
the first part of the game in all it's glory.

I did some testing before I got it, and was able to get the mobs to show if
I dropped the resolution to 800x600, so definitely the old card, and man is
it ugly and hard to tell what things and numbers are at 800x600!

- Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Monday, March 14, 2022 at 7:12:54 PM UTC-7, PW wrote:

On Mon, 14 Mar 2022 18:59:28 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<just...@gmail.com> wrote:
Start over? Aren't you a zillion hours into it already?

About 100, but over 3 characters, so around 33 each. I did decide to
start a new character a bandit dex/bleed character, spent a bunch of
time making the face. Then the game crashed during creation. That's
the first crash I've had. I assume it's something to do with one of
the settings, I also have the steam overlay running to see FPS and
have seen people reporting that having that running can cause issues.

Maybe you should try God of War now? Is 1080p HD?

HD is 720p is 1280x720. 1080p is FHD (F is for Full) is 1920x1080.
Yeah, I looked that stuff up a bit ago when I was trying to get ER to
work with my 950 GTX.

I liked the original GoW on th PS2, Probably in the top 5 PS2 games I
played. It's tempting, but Elden Ring for the moment. I'm really
interested in the Guardians of the Galaxy game too. There's also
Death Stranding to go back to and see it in it's fully glory, and that
Jedi game.

The original GoW was just action, no builds or weapons or whatnot
to try, I like a bit more than just action. I haven't looked into the
new one though.

Oh! I might be able to run steam VR games on the Oculus now too.

Guess what I am downloading right now?

God of War? :)

- Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Guess what I am downloading right now?

God of War? :)

- Justisaur

*--

No silly! I already have 30 hours into GoW.

I finally broke down and bought Elden Ring. I am going to suffer some
wrath from my wife for spending $60 on another game. I did not tell
her about JAB's awesome plan nor did I sign any agreements :-)

No pyromancer in ER.

I think I am playing it off-line but there are souls running around
from the start. Is that supposed to be in the single-player mode?

It is very Dark Souls 3 like, including having to use a controller to
get the menu working (not getting stuck when I have to press a
controller button to get out or finish a choice in the options after
starting it with a keyboard and mouse).

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Tuesday, March 15, 2022 at 9:53:25 AM UTC-7, PW wrote:

Guess what I am downloading right now?

God of War? :)

- Justisaur

*--

No silly! I already have 30 hours into GoW.

I finally broke down and bought Elden Ring. I am going to suffer some
wrath from my wife for spending $60 on another game. I did not tell
her about JAB's awesome plan nor did I sign any agreements :-)

Congratulations :)

No pyromancer in ER.

Sort of, pyromancies were rolled into incantations which are normally
faith spells. Though there's incantations that use both faith and int. In
any case you can't start with any, they have to be found. They mostly
don't seem anywhere near as good as they were in DS3 either so far.
There's a new one I like that does tons of damage in a big area,
Frenzied Fire or something, but it's slow and builds madness on yourself.

My Int caster is picking up a little, but I looked into it and to get really powerful early you have to go into areas intended for level 60's or
beyond to get the good spells, staves, and weapons. I'm almost
exclusively using the two starting spells still at 40, I do have a better
staff at least for my level of int, and my rapier is crap so I have to use spells on horseback instead, except I put a blood weapon art on it which
is really good, if you have the health and mana to power it, but anyone
can do that.

My Str character is still hands down the best, and I'd put the faith
character the worst, but is more versatile so doesn't run into the issue
my int one does where it can't do much against magic resistant enemies
(except with the blood weapon art.) My Str character is the only one
that's gotten past Godrick, and also one of the tree spirits in the castle
that seems even harder than the bosses.

My new bleed bandit feels exceptionally weak, far worse than any of
those at start, so much so I bought and switched to a club which
doesn't have bleed, and is still a bad weapon, but better than the
great knife I started with. :( They do have a bow which is decent,
but I'm having to spend most of my time killing animals and
birds for parts to make arrows. I could buy arrows, but they're a
bit expensive early, 20 runes each, so a stack of 100 would be
2000. I'd go through those pretty fast as it takes a lot of shots
to kill the dangerous stuff.

I think I am playing it off-line but there are souls running around
from the start. Is that supposed to be in the single-player mode?

No, it defaults to online just like all the other souls games. I think you
can turn off online mode in the settings again. I wouldn't bother
though, as there's no multiplayer until you use a finger. No invasions
without starting co-op with someone. You do get to see all bloodstains
and phantoms (they can't interact with you) and messages all of which
can be helpful (messages can be misleading,) but that's it.

It is very Dark Souls 3 like, including having to use a controller to
get the menu working (not getting stuck when I have to press a
controller button to get out or finish a choice in the options after
starting it with a keyboard and mouse).

There's an option to change menus to show keys instead of controller
prompts somewhere in the settings.

- Justisaur.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Tue, 15 Mar 2022 15:56:20 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<justisaur@gmail.com> wrote:

No, it defaults to online just like all the other souls games. I think you >can turn off online mode in the settings again. I wouldn't bother
though, as there's no multiplayer until you use a finger. No invasions >without starting co-op with someone. You do get to see all bloodstains
and phantoms (they can't interact with you) and messages all of which
can be helpful (messages can be misleading,) but that's it.

*--

I could not leave the initial room until I picked up a finger to open
the door outside.

I did turn off multiplayer but there are still souls lurking around. I
will try again.

Given the review where the person said it was easy for him/her because
of using spells, do you recommend a starting class? Confessor?

Any tips considering how much trouble I had initially with DS3?

Thanks!!

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Tuesday, March 15, 2022 at 4:40:12 PM UTC-7, PW wrote:

On Tue, 15 Mar 2022 15:56:20 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<just...@gmail.com> wrote:

No, it defaults to online just like all the other souls games. I think you >can turn off online mode in the settings again. I wouldn't bother
though, as there's no multiplayer until you use a finger. No invasions >without starting co-op with someone. You do get to see all bloodstains
and phantoms (they can't interact with you) and messages all of which
can be helpful (messages can be misleading,) but that's it.

*--

I could not leave the initial room until I picked up a finger to open
the door outside.

That's weird, well I went through all the tutorial so probably just
didn't notice you needed a finger to open the door.

I did turn off multiplayer but there are still souls lurking around. I
will try again.

Hidden online? I suppose it's possible, you can try starting Steam
in offline mode. Like I said, it's not something worth worrying about
though.

Given the review where the person said it was easy for him/her because
of using spells, do you recommend a starting class? Confessor?

Yeah... like I said, spells are easy if you follow a walkthrough on going to a bunch of high level (and probably die a lot there) areas early to get good spells, good staff, upgrade materials, etc. Otherwise I'd say meh so far
to me, as I'm not doing that. It's very different in that regard to all the Dark Souls games.

Hero was good for me, but that's Strength based as I said. From what
I've read so far the hybrid classes are a lot more powerful in this game.

If you want to go sorceries I'd say go Prisoner, as I read they
get a better starting spell than Astrologer, one which my Astrologer
still doesn't have, whereas the starting spells Astrologer has are available
in the first area for sale once you find/rescue the sorcerer teacher.
Prisoner also starts with a better staff, melee weapon and shield than Astrologer.

I haven't tried Confessor, but it's a hybrid as well, faith and quality it looks
like and starts with a stealth spell, quick heal, and 100% shield... weird.
But looks like decent start. I'd probably say my Prophet (faith) was
probably the worst start, so I'm not too sure on that.

I wouldn't go Bandit, that seems like a very bad start, probably only
Wretch is worse.

Looking over the Physical ones I'd say Vagabond looks best,
it's basically knight from the previous games, has high Vigor
(hit points are based off of) heaviest starting armor, best
starting shield, a halberd which looks like it's a very good
mounted weapon from when I've seen others using it, and
it has a good reach which feels like it's a bit more important
in PVE in ER than the previous games.

Samurai and Warrior are a bit more specialized it looks,
Samurai gets a long bow which is useful, warrior gets
two scimitars which allows some higher DPS, but would
make them die faster. Of course all of the starting weapons
armor and shields are available fairly early for purchase at
various vendors, having the right stats to use them is another
possible problem though.

TDLR;

#1 Vagabond (Melee/Str/Dex)
#2 Prisoner (Sorceries/Dex)
#3 Confessor (Incantations/Str/Dex)

Don't think you're locked into anything by starting with
any of these classes, it's good to have some str & dex
up to about 16-20 even if focused on only one thing, and
adding Int or Faith to either caster build for the hybrid
spells, or even the Vagabond for some low requirement
weapons looks to be very good. There's a respec
later in the game (I haven't got there yet) so if you find
you don't like something you can redo your allocations.
Or just get more levels and add more to what you do like.

Dex increases casting speed somewhat. Faith seems
to go well with Strength as there's some really good
weapons that require both.

Keepsake - I'd say Golden Seed, as once you find a grace you
can use it to get an extra flask. That's especially important
for casters, as I found it about necessary on my Astrologer.

Any tips considering how much trouble I had initially with DS3?

If your map is brown on an area you can look for a little obelisk
thing and pin a marker there, that's where the map for an area is.

Jumping heavy attacks are great against many things, especially
flying things, though really a bow or crossbow is probably better
and sorceries best on those.

Mounted combat you want to hold heavy attack - it lets you drag
your weapon on the side and hit things as you ride by.
I just found the flail is amazing for mounted combat. It requires 18
dex though. Its weapon art is really good for swarms of rats and
dogs which otherwise are a major pain. There's a flail on one of the
big wagons in the starting area guarded by a soldier.

If something kills you a lot, try to collect your runes then explore
elsewhere to find new equipment and level until you want to try again.

Spend your runes on leveling when you enter a new underground area
or boss fog at the first grace, that way if you find you can't retrieve them you don't lose much.

There's one area I'd say you absolutely don't want to go in the
starting area - there's some ruins in the SW of the swamp
that have a trap that will send you to a place I found difficult
to escape. I've read of people just quitting the game and
starting over because it was easier than getting out. I was
considering that too, but eventually found a way out.

After you get your 'horse', and again after hearing a weird
wolf you can't find return to the Santa Claus looking
merchant near the beginning.

- Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Wed, 16 Mar 2022 09:32:05 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<justisaur@gmail.com> wrote:

On Tuesday, March 15, 2022 at 4:40:12 PM UTC-7, PW wrote:

On Tue, 15 Mar 2022 15:56:20 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<just...@gmail.com> wrote:

No, it defaults to online just like all the other souls games. I think you >> >can turn off online mode in the settings again. I wouldn't bother
though, as there's no multiplayer until you use a finger. No invasions
without starting co-op with someone. You do get to see all bloodstains
and phantoms (they can't interact with you) and messages all of which
can be helpful (messages can be misleading,) but that's it.

*--

I could not leave the initial room until I picked up a finger to open
the door outside.

That's weird, well I went through all the tutorial so probably just
didn't notice you needed a finger to open the door.

I did turn off multiplayer but there are still souls lurking around. I
will try again.

Hidden online? I suppose it's possible, you can try starting Steam
in offline mode. Like I said, it's not something worth worrying about >though.

Given the review where the person said it was easy for him/her because
of using spells, do you recommend a starting class? Confessor?

Yeah... like I said, spells are easy if you follow a walkthrough on going to a >bunch of high level (and probably die a lot there) areas early to get good >spells, good staff, upgrade materials, etc. Otherwise I'd say meh so far
to me, as I'm not doing that. It's very different in that regard to all the >Dark Souls games.

Hero was good for me, but that's Strength based as I said. From what
I've read so far the hybrid classes are a lot more powerful in this game.

If you want to go sorceries I'd say go Prisoner, as I read they
get a better starting spell than Astrologer, one which my Astrologer
still doesn't have, whereas the starting spells Astrologer has are available >in the first area for sale once you find/rescue the sorcerer teacher. >Prisoner also starts with a better staff, melee weapon and shield than >Astrologer.

I haven't tried Confessor, but it's a hybrid as well, faith and quality it looks
like and starts with a stealth spell, quick heal, and 100% shield... weird. >But looks like decent start. I'd probably say my Prophet (faith) was >probably the worst start, so I'm not too sure on that.

I wouldn't go Bandit, that seems like a very bad start, probably only
Wretch is worse.

Looking over the Physical ones I'd say Vagabond looks best,
it's basically knight from the previous games, has high Vigor
(hit points are based off of) heaviest starting armor, best
starting shield, a halberd which looks like it's a very good
mounted weapon from when I've seen others using it, and
it has a good reach which feels like it's a bit more important
in PVE in ER than the previous games.

Samurai and Warrior are a bit more specialized it looks,
Samurai gets a long bow which is useful, warrior gets
two scimitars which allows some higher DPS, but would
make them die faster. Of course all of the starting weapons
armor and shields are available fairly early for purchase at
various vendors, having the right stats to use them is another
possible problem though.

TDLR;

#1 Vagabond (Melee/Str/Dex)
#2 Prisoner (Sorceries/Dex)
#3 Confessor (Incantations/Str/Dex)

Don't think you're locked into anything by starting with
any of these classes, it's good to have some str & dex
up to about 16-20 even if focused on only one thing, and
adding Int or Faith to either caster build for the hybrid
spells, or even the Vagabond for some low requirement
weapons looks to be very good. There's a respec
later in the game (I haven't got there yet) so if you find
you don't like something you can redo your allocations.
Or just get more levels and add more to what you do like.

Dex increases casting speed somewhat. Faith seems
to go well with Strength as there's some really good
weapons that require both.

Keepsake - I'd say Golden Seed, as once you find a grace you
can use it to get an extra flask. That's especially important
for casters, as I found it about necessary on my Astrologer.

Any tips considering how much trouble I had initially with DS3?

If your map is brown on an area you can look for a little obelisk
thing and pin a marker there, that's where the map for an area is.

Jumping heavy attacks are great against many things, especially
flying things, though really a bow or crossbow is probably better
and sorceries best on those.

Mounted combat you want to hold heavy attack - it lets you drag
your weapon on the side and hit things as you ride by.
I just found the flail is amazing for mounted combat. It requires 18
dex though. Its weapon art is really good for swarms of rats and
dogs which otherwise are a major pain. There's a flail on one of the
big wagons in the starting area guarded by a soldier.

If something kills you a lot, try to collect your runes then explore >elsewhere to find new equipment and level until you want to try again.

Spend your runes on leveling when you enter a new underground area
or boss fog at the first grace, that way if you find you can't retrieve them >you don't lose much.

There's one area I'd say you absolutely don't want to go in the
starting area - there's some ruins in the SW of the swamp
that have a trap that will send you to a place I found difficult
to escape. I've read of people just quitting the game and
starting over because it was easier than getting out. I was
considering that too, but eventually found a way out.

After you get your 'horse', and again after hearing a weird
wolf you can't find return to the Santa Claus looking
merchant near the beginning.

- Justisaur

*---

Wow! Thanks!

Tutorials? I don't remember any tutorials being offered. I only just
started it yesterday, I think as an Astrologer. But I am going to
restart I think as a Prisoner or Confesser in a little while.

I am not far into the game. I got killed by some crab thing and some
long video appeared with a horse and a woman saying stuff to me. I
then finally appeared somewhere and messages were telling me to jump
off a cliff and a bunch of other stuff. There are messages
everywhere. I think I read that bloodstains are also just for MP.

I know I have Start In Muliplayer turned off in the setting. Start
Offline I think.

I will see if I can start Steam offlilne somehow. I will look for the
setting. Or unplug my ethernet connection and then plug it in and
reboot afterwards.

Thanks!!!!!

I haven't been this nervous picking a starting character since Skyrim.
But I got into about 60-70 hours into it before ending up with a new
computer so I must have done something right.

But I didn't play a predecessor like DS3 and get my butt kicked
beforehand :-)

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Confessor. Since I doubt I will play on-line and just single player.

Almost picked a Prisoner but Vagabond looked good to. I really am
intrugued by the Prisoner.

I read that picking a starting class shouldn't keep a person up all
night worrying as things will eventually work or even out.

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Wednesday, March 16, 2022 at 2:49:45 PM UTC-7, PW wrote:

On Wed, 16 Mar 2022 09:32:05 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<just...@gmail.com> wrote:

On Tuesday, March 15, 2022 at 4:40:12 PM UTC-7, PW wrote:

On Tue, 15 Mar 2022 15:56:20 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<just...@gmail.com> wrote:

No, it defaults to online just like all the other souls games. I think you
can turn off online mode in the settings again. I wouldn't bother
though, as there's no multiplayer until you use a finger. No invasions
without starting co-op with someone. You do get to see all bloodstains
and phantoms (they can't interact with you) and messages all of which
can be helpful (messages can be misleading,) but that's it.

*--

I could not leave the initial room until I picked up a finger to open
the door outside.

That's weird, well I went through all the tutorial so probably just
didn't notice you needed a finger to open the door.

I did turn off multiplayer but there are still souls lurking around. I
will try again.

Hidden online? I suppose it's possible, you can try starting Steam
in offline mode. Like I said, it's not something worth worrying about >though.

Given the review where the person said it was easy for him/her because
of using spells, do you recommend a starting class? Confessor?

Yeah... like I said, spells are easy if you follow a walkthrough on going to a
bunch of high level (and probably die a lot there) areas early to get good >spells, good staff, upgrade materials, etc. Otherwise I'd say meh so far
to me, as I'm not doing that. It's very different in that regard to all the >Dark Souls games.

Hero was good for me, but that's Strength based as I said. From what
I've read so far the hybrid classes are a lot more powerful in this game.

If you want to go sorceries I'd say go Prisoner, as I read they
get a better starting spell than Astrologer, one which my Astrologer
still doesn't have, whereas the starting spells Astrologer has are available >in the first area for sale once you find/rescue the sorcerer teacher. >Prisoner also starts with a better staff, melee weapon and shield than >Astrologer.

I haven't tried Confessor, but it's a hybrid as well, faith and quality it looks
like and starts with a stealth spell, quick heal, and 100% shield... weird. >But looks like decent start. I'd probably say my Prophet (faith) was >probably the worst start, so I'm not too sure on that.

I wouldn't go Bandit, that seems like a very bad start, probably only >Wretch is worse.

Looking over the Physical ones I'd say Vagabond looks best,
it's basically knight from the previous games, has high Vigor
(hit points are based off of) heaviest starting armor, best
starting shield, a halberd which looks like it's a very good
mounted weapon from when I've seen others using it, and
it has a good reach which feels like it's a bit more important
in PVE in ER than the previous games.

Samurai and Warrior are a bit more specialized it looks,
Samurai gets a long bow which is useful, warrior gets
two scimitars which allows some higher DPS, but would
make them die faster. Of course all of the starting weapons
armor and shields are available fairly early for purchase at
various vendors, having the right stats to use them is another
possible problem though.

TDLR;

#1 Vagabond (Melee/Str/Dex)
#2 Prisoner (Sorceries/Dex)
#3 Confessor (Incantations/Str/Dex)

Don't think you're locked into anything by starting with
any of these classes, it's good to have some str & dex
up to about 16-20 even if focused on only one thing, and
adding Int or Faith to either caster build for the hybrid
spells, or even the Vagabond for some low requirement
weapons looks to be very good. There's a respec
later in the game (I haven't got there yet) so if you find
you don't like something you can redo your allocations.
Or just get more levels and add more to what you do like.

Dex increases casting speed somewhat. Faith seems
to go well with Strength as there's some really good
weapons that require both.

Keepsake - I'd say Golden Seed, as once you find a grace you
can use it to get an extra flask. That's especially important
for casters, as I found it about necessary on my Astrologer.

Any tips considering how much trouble I had initially with DS3?

If your map is brown on an area you can look for a little obelisk
thing and pin a marker there, that's where the map for an area is.

Jumping heavy attacks are great against many things, especially
flying things, though really a bow or crossbow is probably better
and sorceries best on those.

Mounted combat you want to hold heavy attack - it lets you drag
your weapon on the side and hit things as you ride by.
I just found the flail is amazing for mounted combat. It requires 18
dex though. Its weapon art is really good for swarms of rats and
dogs which otherwise are a major pain. There's a flail on one of the
big wagons in the starting area guarded by a soldier.

If something kills you a lot, try to collect your runes then explore >elsewhere to find new equipment and level until you want to try again.

Spend your runes on leveling when you enter a new underground area
or boss fog at the first grace, that way if you find you can't retrieve them >you don't lose much.

There's one area I'd say you absolutely don't want to go in the
starting area - there's some ruins in the SW of the swamp
that have a trap that will send you to a place I found difficult
to escape. I've read of people just quitting the game and
starting over because it was easier than getting out. I was
considering that too, but eventually found a way out.

After you get your 'horse', and again after hearing a weird
wolf you can't find return to the Santa Claus looking
merchant near the beginning.

- Justisaur

*---

Wow! Thanks!

Tutorials? I don't remember any tutorials being offered. I only just
started it yesterday, I think as an Astrologer. But I am going to
restart I think as a Prisoner or Confesser in a little while.

I am not far into the game. I got killed by some crab thing and some
long video appeared with a horse and a woman saying stuff to me. I
then finally appeared somewhere and messages were telling me to jump
off a cliff and a bunch of other stuff. There are messages
everywhere. I think I read that bloodstains are also just for MP.

Some of the messages are the help/tutuorial messages that will appear
even offline. There is an area you need to jump down in the cave next to
a spirit that's sitting there you can talk to, to do the tutorial area. It looks a bit far to be safe, but it is safe.

Apparently you can use the rainbow stones to see if a jump is survivable, if
it doesn't break it is (except under elevators.) Those can be made easily
once you get the crafting kit. Apparently that's been in all the DS games
from the beginning under various names.

The bloodstains do only show up when online, you aren't actually in
multiplayer at that point though.

I know I have Start In Muliplayer turned off in the setting. Start
Offline I think.

I will see if I can start Steam offlilne somehow. I will look for the setting. Or unplug my ethernet connection and then plug it in and
reboot afterwards.

Click 'Steam' in the upper left corner of the Steam Client, then choose
Go Offline from the menu. It'll restart Steam in offline mode.

Thanks!!!!!

I haven't been this nervous picking a starting character since Skyrim.
But I got into about 60-70 hours into it before ending up with a new
computer so I must have done something right.

You're 60 hours into ER already? or is that Skyrim?

But I didn't play a predecessor like DS3 and get my butt kicked
beforehand :-)

Yeah, I can see how DS3 could make you nervous. It's a very different
game though, it's mostly easy to recover runes if you die, or just nope out
and leave them.

Just take it slow, try to pick on lone enemies as much as you can to begin with, until you start feeling confident. Don't be afraid to run away, kite, leave things for later, or use any dirty trick you can think of.

The ahem "crab" boss you fight and die to before you get anywhere is a
I think a bit of a cruel joke. At least it takes you to the tutorial cave after
instead of having to defeat them. Apparently some people have managed
to defeat it with a new character. I'm lucky if I get a hit on it. There's a way to go back and fight it later, but I haven't been brave enough yet.

- Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Wednesday, March 16, 2022 at 3:41:20 PM UTC-7, PW wrote:

Confessor. Since I doubt I will play on-line and just single player.

Almost picked a Prisoner but Vagabond looked good to. I really am
intrugued by the Prisoner.

I read that picking a starting class shouldn't keep a person up all
night worrying as things will eventually work or even out.

Yeah, eventually. It's not as big a deal with the melee ones as
every starting weapon & armor can be bought, though if you want
to dual wield one, you need to start with one as you can only buy one. Supposedly dual katanas are really good, so that might be a reason
to start Samurai. As I mentioned the Prisoner and Confessor start with
spells I haven't seen yet for faith and int by 40th level, while the
Astrologer and Prophet starting spells can both be bought/found
within the first map area after you get out of the tutorial (technically
the prophet ones can be bought at an area an NPC will take you from
the first area.)

I assume eventually those spells will be able to be bought.

- Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

All right. I did something wrong already with my Confessor.

Got slayed by the crab in two swipes. Never made it into the castle
next to it.

Died. Woman and horse revives me. I end up outside another castle. I
exit and get slaid by the Tree Sentinal.

I just looked it up. I should not be dealing with a boss so early in
the game.

I am going to look for some walkthroughs for beginners and the
beginning!

Settings = Play offline. I told Steam to set itself to offline. I
never saw any goofy messages or blood pools like yesterday even though
I am sure I had play offline selected in the settings.

I did pick up a Tarnished's Wizened Finger right off the bat after
starting.

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Some of the messages are the help/tutuorial messages that will appear
even offline. There is an area you need to jump down in the cave next to
a spirit that's sitting there you can talk to, to do the tutorial area. It >looks a bit far to be safe, but it is safe.

I thought that was a taunt. I am going to restart. But I think I
can't just start from the beginning but have to create a new character
to start at the beginning in this game. I will see in a few minutes.

Apparently you can use the rainbow stones to see if a jump is survivable, if >it doesn't break it is (except under elevators.) Those can be made easily >once you get the crafting kit. Apparently that's been in all the DS games >from the beginning under various names.

The bloodstains do only show up when online, you aren't actually in >multiplayer at that point though.

I know I have Start In Muliplayer turned off in the setting. Start
Offline I think.

I will see if I can start Steam offlilne somehow. I will look for the
setting. Or unplug my ethernet connection and then plug it in and
reboot afterwards.

Click 'Steam' in the upper left corner of the Steam Client, then choose
Go Offline from the menu. It'll restart Steam in offline mode.

Thanks!!!!!

I haven't been this nervous picking a starting character since Skyrim.
But I got into about 60-70 hours into it before ending up with a new
computer so I must have done something right.

You're 60 hours into ER already? or is that Skyrim?

Skyrim! I doubt I will even make it 20 hours in ER before I get
frustrated and quit :-)


I saved my old Skyrim save games from my old pc and I think I got them
to work in Elder Scrolls Special Edition. If I remember correctly,
things are kindof screwy with them and especially with the new
textures.

But I didn't play a predecessor like DS3 and get my butt kicked
beforehand :-)

Yeah, I can see how DS3 could make you nervous. It's a very different
game though, it's mostly easy to recover runes if you die, or just nope out >and leave them.

Just take it slow, try to pick on lone enemies as much as you can to begin >with, until you start feeling confident. Don't be afraid to run away, kite, >leave things for later, or use any dirty trick you can think of.

The ahem "crab" boss you fight and die to before you get anywhere is a
I think a bit of a cruel joke. At least it takes you to the tutorial cave after
instead of having to defeat them. Apparently some people have managed
to defeat it with a new character. I'm lucky if I get a hit on it. There's a >way to go back and fight it later, but I haven't been brave enough yet.

- Justisaur

*--

I thought the crab is just a joke or something and it was never meant
to be defeated and the door was never meant to be entered as twice I
have been there. So, this is the tutorial huh. I didn't see anything
from the menu.

I ended up meeting the Tree Sentinal way too early from the research I
just did so I need to figure out why this is happening so soon.

-puh (I goofy guy I worked with said my initials that way many years
ago. Boy does that take me back!). Maybe I should change my name here
to fragPUP, something I made up. I used to be real good at foosball
back in the day. The owner of a biker bar used to beat me once in a
while and he used to say "you ain't nothing but a pup" when he did.
lol! Boy was that a long time ago! Ha!

the frag part is obvious. That was my on-line handle when UT2004 came
out.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Wednesday, March 16, 2022 at 7:20:14 PM UTC-7, PW wrote:

Some of the messages are the help/tutuorial messages that will appear
even offline. There is an area you need to jump down in the cave next to
a spirit that's sitting there you can talk to, to do the tutorial area. It >looks a bit far to be safe, but it is safe.

I thought that was a taunt. I am going to restart. But I think I
can't just start from the beginning but have to create a new character
to start at the beginning in this game. I will see in a few minutes.

Apparently you can use the rainbow stones to see if a jump is survivable, if >it doesn't break it is (except under elevators.) Those can be made easily >once you get the crafting kit. Apparently that's been in all the DS games >from the beginning under various names.

The bloodstains do only show up when online, you aren't actually in >multiplayer at that point though.

I know I have Start In Muliplayer turned off in the setting. Start
Offline I think.

I will see if I can start Steam offlilne somehow. I will look for the
setting. Or unplug my ethernet connection and then plug it in and
reboot afterwards.

Click 'Steam' in the upper left corner of the Steam Client, then choose
Go Offline from the menu. It'll restart Steam in offline mode.

Thanks!!!!!

I haven't been this nervous picking a starting character since Skyrim.
But I got into about 60-70 hours into it before ending up with a new
computer so I must have done something right.

You're 60 hours into ER already? or is that Skyrim?

Skyrim! I doubt I will even make it 20 hours in ER before I get
frustrated and quit :-)

I saved my old Skyrim save games from my old pc and I think I got them
to work in Elder Scrolls Special Edition. If I remember correctly,
things are kindof screwy with them and especially with the new
textures.

But I didn't play a predecessor like DS3 and get my butt kicked
beforehand :-)

Yeah, I can see how DS3 could make you nervous. It's a very different
game though, it's mostly easy to recover runes if you die, or just nope out >and leave them.

Just take it slow, try to pick on lone enemies as much as you can to begin >with, until you start feeling confident. Don't be afraid to run away, kite, >leave things for later, or use any dirty trick you can think of.

The ahem "crab" boss you fight and die to before you get anywhere is a
I think a bit of a cruel joke. At least it takes you to the tutorial cave after
instead of having to defeat them. Apparently some people have managed
to defeat it with a new character. I'm lucky if I get a hit on it. There's a >way to go back and fight it later, but I haven't been brave enough yet.

- Justisaur

*--

I thought the crab is just a joke or something and it was never meant
to be defeated and the door was never meant to be entered as twice I
have been there. So, this is the tutorial huh. I didn't see anything
from the menu.

You are supposed to die to the 'crab' it's just some people take it as a challenge, and he can be defeated (much) later, or apparently there
if you don't mind making characters over and over and spending hours
practicing against him.

I ended up meeting the Tree Sentinal way too early from the research I
just did so I need to figure out why this is happening so soon.

Tree Sentinel is another joke/challenge. It's the first enemy you meet
if you go straight out of the tutorial cave/castle. Go around him to the church with the merchant dressed as Santa Claus, and explore the
area from there.

- Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Wednesday, March 16, 2022 at 4:55:54 PM UTC-7, PW wrote:

All right. I did something wrong already with my Confessor.

Got slayed by the crab in two swipes. Never made it into the castle
next to it.

Died. Woman and horse revives me. I end up outside another castle. I
exit and get slaid by the Tree Sentinal.

I just looked it up. I should not be dealing with a boss so early in
the game.

Just go around the Tree Sentinel. He's real tough, I'd leave him until right before heading to Stormveil Castle - there's 3 map areas to explore before that.

I am going to look for some walkthroughs for beginners and the
beginning!

Good luck with that, I saw a couple and looked over the areas I've
been through and it's mostly glossed over.

You should be able to go back to the underground where the
spirit is sitting on the edge of a hole, and there's a glowing tree.
jump down next to him and follow the area there that has all
the tutorial stuff about the moves. There's a very easy boss
down there too.

-Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Wed, 16 Mar 2022 15:44:02 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<justisaur@gmail.com> wrote:

On Wednesday, March 16, 2022 at 2:49:45 PM UTC-7, PW wrote:

On Wed, 16 Mar 2022 09:32:05 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<just...@gmail.com> wrote:

On Tuesday, March 15, 2022 at 4:40:12 PM UTC-7, PW wrote:

On Tue, 15 Mar 2022 15:56:20 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<just...@gmail.com> wrote:

No, it defaults to online just like all the other souls games. I think you
can turn off online mode in the settings again. I wouldn't bother
though, as there's no multiplayer until you use a finger. No invasions >> >> >without starting co-op with someone. You do get to see all bloodstains >> >> >and phantoms (they can't interact with you) and messages all of which
can be helpful (messages can be misleading,) but that's it.

*--

I could not leave the initial room until I picked up a finger to open
the door outside.

That's weird, well I went through all the tutorial so probably just
didn't notice you needed a finger to open the door.

I did turn off multiplayer but there are still souls lurking around. I
will try again.

Hidden online? I suppose it's possible, you can try starting Steam
in offline mode. Like I said, it's not something worth worrying about
though.

Given the review where the person said it was easy for him/her because
of using spells, do you recommend a starting class? Confessor?

Yeah... like I said, spells are easy if you follow a walkthrough on going to a
bunch of high level (and probably die a lot there) areas early to get good >> >spells, good staff, upgrade materials, etc. Otherwise I'd say meh so far
to me, as I'm not doing that. It's very different in that regard to all the >> >Dark Souls games.

Hero was good for me, but that's Strength based as I said. From what
I've read so far the hybrid classes are a lot more powerful in this game. >> >
If you want to go sorceries I'd say go Prisoner, as I read they
get a better starting spell than Astrologer, one which my Astrologer
still doesn't have, whereas the starting spells Astrologer has are available
in the first area for sale once you find/rescue the sorcerer teacher.
Prisoner also starts with a better staff, melee weapon and shield than
Astrologer.

I haven't tried Confessor, but it's a hybrid as well, faith and quality it looks
like and starts with a stealth spell, quick heal, and 100% shield... weird. >> >But looks like decent start. I'd probably say my Prophet (faith) was
probably the worst start, so I'm not too sure on that.

I wouldn't go Bandit, that seems like a very bad start, probably only
Wretch is worse.

Looking over the Physical ones I'd say Vagabond looks best,
it's basically knight from the previous games, has high Vigor
(hit points are based off of) heaviest starting armor, best
starting shield, a halberd which looks like it's a very good
mounted weapon from when I've seen others using it, and
it has a good reach which feels like it's a bit more important
in PVE in ER than the previous games.

Samurai and Warrior are a bit more specialized it looks,
Samurai gets a long bow which is useful, warrior gets
two scimitars which allows some higher DPS, but would
make them die faster. Of course all of the starting weapons
armor and shields are available fairly early for purchase at
various vendors, having the right stats to use them is another
possible problem though.

TDLR;

#1 Vagabond (Melee/Str/Dex)
#2 Prisoner (Sorceries/Dex)
#3 Confessor (Incantations/Str/Dex)

Don't think you're locked into anything by starting with
any of these classes, it's good to have some str & dex
up to about 16-20 even if focused on only one thing, and
adding Int or Faith to either caster build for the hybrid
spells, or even the Vagabond for some low requirement
weapons looks to be very good. There's a respec
later in the game (I haven't got there yet) so if you find
you don't like something you can redo your allocations.
Or just get more levels and add more to what you do like.

Dex increases casting speed somewhat. Faith seems
to go well with Strength as there's some really good
weapons that require both.

Keepsake - I'd say Golden Seed, as once you find a grace you
can use it to get an extra flask. That's especially important
for casters, as I found it about necessary on my Astrologer.

Any tips considering how much trouble I had initially with DS3?

If your map is brown on an area you can look for a little obelisk
thing and pin a marker there, that's where the map for an area is.

Jumping heavy attacks are great against many things, especially
flying things, though really a bow or crossbow is probably better
and sorceries best on those.

Mounted combat you want to hold heavy attack - it lets you drag
your weapon on the side and hit things as you ride by.
I just found the flail is amazing for mounted combat. It requires 18
dex though. Its weapon art is really good for swarms of rats and
dogs which otherwise are a major pain. There's a flail on one of the
big wagons in the starting area guarded by a soldier.

If something kills you a lot, try to collect your runes then explore
elsewhere to find new equipment and level until you want to try again.

Spend your runes on leveling when you enter a new underground area
or boss fog at the first grace, that way if you find you can't retrieve them
you don't lose much.

There's one area I'd say you absolutely don't want to go in the
starting area - there's some ruins in the SW of the swamp
that have a trap that will send you to a place I found difficult
to escape. I've read of people just quitting the game and
starting over because it was easier than getting out. I was
considering that too, but eventually found a way out.

After you get your 'horse', and again after hearing a weird
wolf you can't find return to the Santa Claus looking
merchant near the beginning.

- Justisaur

*---

Wow! Thanks!

Tutorials? I don't remember any tutorials being offered. I only just
started it yesterday, I think as an Astrologer. But I am going to
restart I think as a Prisoner or Confesser in a little while.

I am not far into the game. I got killed by some crab thing and some
long video appeared with a horse and a woman saying stuff to me. I
then finally appeared somewhere and messages were telling me to jump
off a cliff and a bunch of other stuff. There are messages
everywhere. I think I read that bloodstains are also just for MP.

Some of the messages are the help/tutuorial messages that will appear
even offline. There is an area you need to jump down in the cave next to
a spirit that's sitting there you can talk to, to do the tutorial area. It >looks a bit far to be safe, but it is safe.

Apparently you can use the rainbow stones to see if a jump is survivable, if >it doesn't break it is (except under elevators.) Those can be made easily >once you get the crafting kit. Apparently that's been in all the DS games >from the beginning under various names.

The bloodstains do only show up when online, you aren't actually in >multiplayer at that point though.

I know I have Start In Muliplayer turned off in the setting. Start
Offline I think.

I will see if I can start Steam offlilne somehow. I will look for the
setting. Or unplug my ethernet connection and then plug it in and
reboot afterwards.

Click 'Steam' in the upper left corner of the Steam Client, then choose
Go Offline from the menu. It'll restart Steam in offline mode.

Thanks!!!!!

I haven't been this nervous picking a starting character since Skyrim.
But I got into about 60-70 hours into it before ending up with a new
computer so I must have done something right.

You're 60 hours into ER already? or is that Skyrim?

But I didn't play a predecessor like DS3 and get my butt kicked
beforehand :-)

Yeah, I can see how DS3 could make you nervous. It's a very different
game though, it's mostly easy to recover runes if you die, or just nope out >and leave them.

Just take it slow, try to pick on lone enemies as much as you can to begin >with, until you start feeling confident. Don't be afraid to run away, kite, >leave things for later, or use any dirty trick you can think of.

The ahem "crab" boss you fight and die to before you get anywhere is a
I think a bit of a cruel joke. At least it takes you to the tutorial cave after
instead of having to defeat them. Apparently some people have managed
to defeat it with a new character. I'm lucky if I get a hit on it. There's a >way to go back and fight it later, but I haven't been brave enough yet.

- Justisaur

*---

Found this: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/elden-ring-what-to-do-first-beginners-guide-8042

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On Wed, 16 Mar 2022 17:55:51 -0600, PW
<iamnotusingonewithAgent@notinuse.com> wrote:

All right. I did something wrong already with my Confessor.

Got slayed by the crab in two swipes. Never made it into the castle
next to it.

Died. Woman and horse revives me. I end up outside another castle. I
exit and get slaid by the Tree Sentinal.

I just looked it up. I should not be dealing with a boss so early in
the game.

I am going to look for some walkthroughs for beginners and the
beginning!

Settings = Play offline. I told Steam to set itself to offline. I
never saw any goofy messages or blood pools like yesterday even though
I am sure I had play offline selected in the settings.

I did pick up a Tarnished's Wizened Finger right off the bat after
starting.

-pw

*--

Went around the tree sentinal and to the church but no runes for
anything yet.

Gotta look up how to get runes and other things.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Wednesday, March 16, 2022 at 8:47:36 PM UTC-7, PW wrote:

On Wed, 16 Mar 2022 15:44:02 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<just...@gmail.com> wrote:

On Wednesday, March 16, 2022 at 2:49:45 PM UTC-7, PW wrote:

On Wed, 16 Mar 2022 09:32:05 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<just...@gmail.com> wrote:

On Tuesday, March 15, 2022 at 4:40:12 PM UTC-7, PW wrote:

On Tue, 15 Mar 2022 15:56:20 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<just...@gmail.com> wrote:

No, it defaults to online just like all the other souls games. I think you
can turn off online mode in the settings again. I wouldn't bother
though, as there's no multiplayer until you use a finger. No invasions >> >> >without starting co-op with someone. You do get to see all bloodstains >> >> >and phantoms (they can't interact with you) and messages all of which >> >> >can be helpful (messages can be misleading,) but that's it.

*--

I could not leave the initial room until I picked up a finger to open >> >> the door outside.

That's weird, well I went through all the tutorial so probably just
didn't notice you needed a finger to open the door.

I did turn off multiplayer but there are still souls lurking around. I >> >> will try again.

Hidden online? I suppose it's possible, you can try starting Steam
in offline mode. Like I said, it's not something worth worrying about
though.

Given the review where the person said it was easy for him/her because >> >> of using spells, do you recommend a starting class? Confessor?

Yeah... like I said, spells are easy if you follow a walkthrough on going to a
bunch of high level (and probably die a lot there) areas early to get good
spells, good staff, upgrade materials, etc. Otherwise I'd say meh so far >> >to me, as I'm not doing that. It's very different in that regard to all the
Dark Souls games.

Hero was good for me, but that's Strength based as I said. From what
I've read so far the hybrid classes are a lot more powerful in this game. >> >
If you want to go sorceries I'd say go Prisoner, as I read they
get a better starting spell than Astrologer, one which my Astrologer
still doesn't have, whereas the starting spells Astrologer has are available
in the first area for sale once you find/rescue the sorcerer teacher.
Prisoner also starts with a better staff, melee weapon and shield than
Astrologer.

I haven't tried Confessor, but it's a hybrid as well, faith and quality it looks
like and starts with a stealth spell, quick heal, and 100% shield... weird.
But looks like decent start. I'd probably say my Prophet (faith) was
probably the worst start, so I'm not too sure on that.

I wouldn't go Bandit, that seems like a very bad start, probably only
Wretch is worse.

Looking over the Physical ones I'd say Vagabond looks best,
it's basically knight from the previous games, has high Vigor
(hit points are based off of) heaviest starting armor, best
starting shield, a halberd which looks like it's a very good
mounted weapon from when I've seen others using it, and
it has a good reach which feels like it's a bit more important
in PVE in ER than the previous games.

Samurai and Warrior are a bit more specialized it looks,
Samurai gets a long bow which is useful, warrior gets
two scimitars which allows some higher DPS, but would
make them die faster. Of course all of the starting weapons
armor and shields are available fairly early for purchase at
various vendors, having the right stats to use them is another
possible problem though.

TDLR;

#1 Vagabond (Melee/Str/Dex)
#2 Prisoner (Sorceries/Dex)
#3 Confessor (Incantations/Str/Dex)

Don't think you're locked into anything by starting with
any of these classes, it's good to have some str & dex
up to about 16-20 even if focused on only one thing, and
adding Int or Faith to either caster build for the hybrid
spells, or even the Vagabond for some low requirement
weapons looks to be very good. There's a respec
later in the game (I haven't got there yet) so if you find
you don't like something you can redo your allocations.
Or just get more levels and add more to what you do like.

Dex increases casting speed somewhat. Faith seems
to go well with Strength as there's some really good
weapons that require both.

Keepsake - I'd say Golden Seed, as once you find a grace you
can use it to get an extra flask. That's especially important
for casters, as I found it about necessary on my Astrologer.

Any tips considering how much trouble I had initially with DS3?

If your map is brown on an area you can look for a little obelisk
thing and pin a marker there, that's where the map for an area is.

Jumping heavy attacks are great against many things, especially
flying things, though really a bow or crossbow is probably better
and sorceries best on those.

Mounted combat you want to hold heavy attack - it lets you drag
your weapon on the side and hit things as you ride by.
I just found the flail is amazing for mounted combat. It requires 18
dex though. Its weapon art is really good for swarms of rats and
dogs which otherwise are a major pain. There's a flail on one of the
big wagons in the starting area guarded by a soldier.

If something kills you a lot, try to collect your runes then explore
elsewhere to find new equipment and level until you want to try again.

Spend your runes on leveling when you enter a new underground area
or boss fog at the first grace, that way if you find you can't retrieve them
you don't lose much.

There's one area I'd say you absolutely don't want to go in the
starting area - there's some ruins in the SW of the swamp
that have a trap that will send you to a place I found difficult
to escape. I've read of people just quitting the game and
starting over because it was easier than getting out. I was
considering that too, but eventually found a way out.

After you get your 'horse', and again after hearing a weird
wolf you can't find return to the Santa Claus looking
merchant near the beginning.

- Justisaur

*---

Wow! Thanks!

Tutorials? I don't remember any tutorials being offered. I only just
started it yesterday, I think as an Astrologer. But I am going to
restart I think as a Prisoner or Confesser in a little while.

I am not far into the game. I got killed by some crab thing and some
long video appeared with a horse and a woman saying stuff to me. I
then finally appeared somewhere and messages were telling me to jump
off a cliff and a bunch of other stuff. There are messages
everywhere. I think I read that bloodstains are also just for MP.

Some of the messages are the help/tutuorial messages that will appear
even offline. There is an area you need to jump down in the cave next to
a spirit that's sitting there you can talk to, to do the tutorial area. It >looks a bit far to be safe, but it is safe.

Apparently you can use the rainbow stones to see if a jump is survivable, if >it doesn't break it is (except under elevators.) Those can be made easily >once you get the crafting kit. Apparently that's been in all the DS games >from the beginning under various names.

The bloodstains do only show up when online, you aren't actually in >multiplayer at that point though.

I know I have Start In Muliplayer turned off in the setting. Start
Offline I think.

I will see if I can start Steam offlilne somehow. I will look for the
setting. Or unplug my ethernet connection and then plug it in and
reboot afterwards.

Click 'Steam' in the upper left corner of the Steam Client, then choose
Go Offline from the menu. It'll restart Steam in offline mode.

Thanks!!!!!

I haven't been this nervous picking a starting character since Skyrim.
But I got into about 60-70 hours into it before ending up with a new
computer so I must have done something right.

You're 60 hours into ER already? or is that Skyrim?

But I didn't play a predecessor like DS3 and get my butt kicked
beforehand :-)

Yeah, I can see how DS3 could make you nervous. It's a very different
game though, it's mostly easy to recover runes if you die, or just nope out >and leave them.

Just take it slow, try to pick on lone enemies as much as you can to begin >with, until you start feeling confident. Don't be afraid to run away, kite, >leave things for later, or use any dirty trick you can think of.

The ahem "crab" boss you fight and die to before you get anywhere is a
I think a bit of a cruel joke. At least it takes you to the tutorial cave after
instead of having to defeat them. Apparently some people have managed
to defeat it with a new character. I'm lucky if I get a hit on it. There's a >way to go back and fight it later, but I haven't been brave enough yet.

- Justisaur

*---

Found this: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/elden-ring-what-to-do-first-beginners-guide-8042

Yeah, very glossed over, and doesn't take you through the tutorial area. There's probably
something like 30 locations to find before heading to Stormveil. I'm not sure about the
twiblades either. Those are also dex weapons (need 18) and work best with no shield.
If you're still on your astrologer you have to make a choice in investing in int for spells
or dex for melee weapons early at least, the short sword is not good though, the rapier
is an improvement when you find it if you don't invest any dex, there's really not much
good without a lot of investment for astrologer. If you're on confessor, the starting
broadsword is pretty good, just a bit short, you'll probably want to aim for enough stats
to wield the Winged Scythe 16 dex, 24 faith which seems to be the consensus on the
best early area faith weapon, 2 more dex will get you the twiblade & flail though without
the faith. The flail is real early and amazing on horseback as I mentioned. The other
way to go is investing more in strength instead and get a big sword, eventually you
can aim for the halberd the tree sentinel has, that needs 20 strength 14 dex and 12 faith.
People say that one's amazing. Of course you have to kill the tree sentinel to get it.

You get runes by killing things, bosses of course give the most, animals give hardly any.
Some enemies are worth farming. I started out with the soldiers patrolling, or sitting just
north of the church, once you're confident against with those you can move on and
explore more. The first thing you want to do after that if find some more graces so you
can get a horse.

You can also get golden runes which can be used or sold starting at 200 each. The
glowing skulls littered around each have one of the 200 ones if you break them. Just
roaming around on horseback looking for those can be pretty profitable. You can
sell the crafting ingredients too, they aren't worth much, but they add up.

- Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Found this:
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/elden-ring-what-to-do-first-beginners-guide-8042

Yeah, very glossed over, and doesn't take you through the tutorial area. There's probably
something like 30 locations to find before heading to Stormveil. I'm not sure about the
twiblades either. Those are also dex weapons (need 18) and work best with no shield.
If you're still on your astrologer you have to make a choice in investing in int for spells
or dex for melee weapons early at least, the short sword is not good though, the rapier
is an improvement when you find it if you don't invest any dex, there's really not much
good without a lot of investment for astrologer. If you're on confessor, the starting
broadsword is pretty good, just a bit short, you'll probably want to aim for enough stats
to wield the Winged Scythe 16 dex, 24 faith which seems to be the consensus on the
best early area faith weapon, 2 more dex will get you the twiblade & flail though without
the faith. The flail is real early and amazing on horseback as I mentioned. The other
way to go is investing more in strength instead and get a big sword, eventually you
can aim for the halberd the tree sentinel has, that needs 20 strength 14 dex and 12 faith.
People say that one's amazing. Of course you have to kill the tree sentinel to get it.

You get runes by killing things, bosses of course give the most, animals give hardly any.
Some enemies are worth farming. I started out with the soldiers patrolling, or sitting just
north of the church, once you're confident against with those you can move on and
explore more. The first thing you want to do after that if find some more graces so you
can get a horse.

You can also get golden runes which can be used or sold starting at 200 each. The
glowing skulls littered around each have one of the 200 ones if you break them. Just
roaming around on horseback looking for those can be pretty profitable. You can
sell the crafting ingredients too, they aren't worth much, but they add up.

- Justisaur

*--

Thankyou Justisaur.

Glossed over is right. Thanks for the advice. I will start over with
a Confessor or the earliest save game so I can go through the tutorial
area at the bottom of the cliff.

Now real life is starting to get in the way of this game! :-)

I only have about an hour after dinner and dishes. So it is going to
be slow going.

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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Here is an article that I just got in my email from PC Gamer:

Elden Ring's smartest trick is scale

https://www.pcgamer.com/elden-rings-smartest-trick-is-scale/?utm_campaign=XPG_NWL

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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https://www.pcgamer.com/elden-rings-smartest-trick-is-scale/

I recall early half-ass reviews of Thief 4 that complained about the
small world size, not realizing -- since they'd only played a few hours
before writing the article -- that new areas begin opening up in a staggered manner as you reach progress points in the plot. As for ER, I had zero expectations going in, but the breadth of the world, as per the article, combined with the depth of the mechanics (weapon stats and moves, buffs,
etc) are pretty darn great. In my playthrough using just melee & bow, I
feel like I've hit a plateau, die a lot, and have only beaten 3 of the
easiest named enemies; but I'm also certain there's a whole system of
upgrades that I haven't even touched. That is the thing about souls games, that the difficulty & learning curves extend way beyond the norm for other
open world games, in which you fill out a single screen of skill trees and you're learned all there is. It's great, but also very time-consuming....

rms

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On Fri, 18 Mar 2022 17:53:48 -0600, "rms"
<rsquiresMOO@MOOflashMOO.net> wrote:

https://www.pcgamer.com/elden-rings-smartest-trick-is-scale/

I recall early half-ass reviews of Thief 4 that complained about the
small world size, not realizing -- since they'd only played a few hours >before writing the article -- that new areas begin opening up in a staggered >manner as you reach progress points in the plot. As for ER, I had zero >expectations going in, but the breadth of the world, as per the article, >combined with the depth of the mechanics (weapon stats and moves, buffs,
etc) are pretty darn great. In my playthrough using just melee & bow, I
feel like I've hit a plateau, die a lot, and have only beaten 3 of the >easiest named enemies; but I'm also certain there's a whole system of >upgrades that I haven't even touched. That is the thing about souls games, >that the difficulty & learning curves extend way beyond the norm for other >open world games, in which you fill out a single screen of skill trees and >you're learned all there is. It's great, but also very time-consuming....

rms

*--

I am not letting it get to me like I did Dark Souls 3.

I am in a cave with a pack of wolves. I am a Confessor.

Just when I think I got them all, I die. And again. And again.

But it is not bothering me, at least not yet. In this one, I think I
may have a chance!

It may be too early in ghe game for me to stand a chance against them,
but I keep trying! Maybe I will get tired of it later on but I think
the open world, more opportunites and more "checkpoints" are letting
me not give up!

At least I have things to practice on!

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

I am in a cave with a pack of wolves. I am a Confessor.

You bought a torch I hope, that will help illuminate it, and sets the
wolves on fire too :)

rms

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Friday, March 18, 2022 at 10:16:24 PM UTC-7, rms wrote:

I am in a cave with a pack of wolves. I am a Confessor.

You bought a torch I hope, that will help illuminate it, and sets the
wolves on fire too :)

I agree on the torch. It's not great damage and it's a bit slow, but the
other early option is using it instead of a shield, which is a bad idea
against those.

I found that particular cave a bit much right off, I'd stick to the soldiers and explore elsewhere until you've upgraded a bit and have a bit of an
arsenal of weapons/spells to try on them. Some weapons do much better
than others against wolves/dogs, typically ones with lots of reach, fast and sweeping or poking attacks. Using leap attack can also help. You can
also try backing up and after the first two attacks let them hit your shield
on the their 3rd attack so you can get a guard attack. Circling can help,
but that cave is a bit tight for that. Something ranged to pull them one
at a time helps too.

It's much easier co-op.

- Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Fri, 18 Mar 2022 23:16:21 -0600, "rms"
<rsquiresMOO@MOOflashMOO.net> wrote:

I am in a cave with a pack of wolves. I am a Confessor.

You bought a torch I hope, that will help illuminate it, and sets the
wolves on fire too :)

rms

*--

I am a few bits shy of what is needed to buy a torch. I guess I will
have to kill another sentry outside the church. I managed to knock
off a couple. When I pillaged them a torch was not part of the
inventory. I spent the money on a cookbook and pot.

They keep repopulating so I will die a couple of times but eventually
win out. Then visit Santa Claus again.

Thanks,

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Sat, 19 Mar 2022 04:31:24 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<justisaur@gmail.com> wrote:

On Friday, March 18, 2022 at 10:16:24 PM UTC-7, rms wrote:

I am in a cave with a pack of wolves. I am a Confessor.

You bought a torch I hope, that will help illuminate it, and sets the
wolves on fire too :)

I agree on the torch. It's not great damage and it's a bit slow, but the >other early option is using it instead of a shield, which is a bad idea >against those.

I found that particular cave a bit much right off, I'd stick to the soldiers >and explore elsewhere until you've upgraded a bit and have a bit of an >arsenal of weapons/spells to try on them. Some weapons do much better
than others against wolves/dogs, typically ones with lots of reach, fast and >sweeping or poking attacks. Using leap attack can also help. You can
also try backing up and after the first two attacks let them hit your shield >on the their 3rd attack so you can get a guard attack. Circling can help, >but that cave is a bit tight for that. Something ranged to pull them one
at a time helps too.

It's much easier co-op.

- Justisaur

*--

I have tried to get them in a narrow part so they can't surround me so
easily. Also along an edge but I fell off one time and got eaten
alive by the pack.

I don't like how some of them seem still alive after I kill them. I
don't like to even see fake one's suffer. If I am watching an old
western and there is a dog or wolf in it, I sometimes fast forward
through that part :-)

Killing wolves is legal where I live but I am no rancher and have no
livestock. I sort of do like how that is driving the wolf watchers
and activists crazy in Yellowstone Park ;-)

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Now I am thinking that maybe I should have started with a class that
would be good for on-line play instead of a Confessor. Nah! :-)

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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Hey guys - I started off as a Confessor. It comes with two
incarnations. How do I use them? I think most classes need something
to be able to use them, but I think a Confessor comes with one. A
seal, I think it is called.

Also, I need to upgrade Dexterity, Arcane, and Faith. How do I do
that? I think it costs money so I haven't been able to do that yet at
a Site of Grace.

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Saturday, March 19, 2022 at 9:15:58 AM UTC-7, PW wrote:

Hey guys - I started off as a Confessor. It comes with two
incarnations. How do I use them? I think most classes need something
to be able to use them, but I think a Confessor comes with one. A
seal, I think it is called.

Also, I need to upgrade Dexterity, Arcane, and Faith. How do I do
that? I think it costs money so I haven't been able to do that yet at
a Site of Grace.

-pw

I think it puts the finger seal in the shield slot, you swap with the
left d-pad between them (the cross thing on the controller, press
the left part of it.)

After it's in hand you press the left light attack button to cast.

If it's in your right hand or you move it there then it uses the right
attack button to cast.

- Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Saturday, March 19, 2022 at 9:05:45 AM UTC-7, PW wrote:

Now I am thinking that maybe I should have started with a class that
would be good for on-line play instead of a Confessor. Nah! :-)

They're all fine for on-line play, in fact I'd say spellcasters do better online because it's easier to cast spells with someone distracting
mobs.

- Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Saturday, March 19, 2022 at 9:00:02 AM UTC-7, PW wrote:

On Sat, 19 Mar 2022 04:31:24 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<just...@gmail.com> wrote:

On Friday, March 18, 2022 at 10:16:24 PM UTC-7, rms wrote:

I am in a cave with a pack of wolves. I am a Confessor.

You bought a torch I hope, that will help illuminate it, and sets the
wolves on fire too :)

I agree on the torch. It's not great damage and it's a bit slow, but the >other early option is using it instead of a shield, which is a bad idea >against those.

I found that particular cave a bit much right off, I'd stick to the soldiers >and explore elsewhere until you've upgraded a bit and have a bit of an >arsenal of weapons/spells to try on them. Some weapons do much better
than others against wolves/dogs, typically ones with lots of reach, fast and >sweeping or poking attacks. Using leap attack can also help. You can
also try backing up and after the first two attacks let them hit your shield >on the their 3rd attack so you can get a guard attack. Circling can help, >but that cave is a bit tight for that. Something ranged to pull them one
at a time helps too.

It's much easier co-op.

- Justisaur

*--

I have tried to get them in a narrow part so they can't surround me so easily. Also along an edge but I fell off one time and got eaten
alive by the pack.

I don't like how some of them seem still alive after I kill them. I
don't like to even see fake one's suffer. If I am watching an old
western and there is a dog or wolf in it, I sometimes fast forward
through that part :-)

If it's any help, It's been speculated everything still moving is
undead in souls series. All the wolves wouldn't keep coming
back after you died if they weren't.

The fact you get 'runes' from them on their 'death' also seems
to indicate that.

There's always the possibility they're evil spirits that have taken
the form of wolves - fairly common in myth too.

P.S.

I forgot to mention you want to avoid anything underground
until you get your own spirit wolves, as there's almost always
a boss that you can summon them (or other spirits) to help
with and they're balanced for using either co-op or summons.

Unfortunately only the boss, you have to get through the
rest of the dungeons without help unless co-op. I really wish
they would allow you to use the summons anywhere you
could co-op. I'm having trouble finding co-op people now that
I'm past the newbie area.

Go looking for graces on the surface, once you have your
horse, go back to the first merchant wearing a Santa suit,
agree with the nice lady that shows up to get the spirit
wolves.

- Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Sat, 19 Mar 2022 19:05:33 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<justisaur@gmail.com> wrote:

On Saturday, March 19, 2022 at 9:05:45 AM UTC-7, PW wrote:

Now I am thinking that maybe I should have started with a class that
would be good for on-line play instead of a Confessor. Nah! :-)

They're all fine for on-line play, in fact I'd say spellcasters do better >online because it's easier to cast spells with someone distracting
mobs.

- Justisaur

*--

Good. But I think it is going to be a *long* time before I figure I
can contribute anything.

Does playing on-line mess up my single player progress? Is it one or
the other?

-pw

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On Sat, 19 Mar 2022 18:16:53 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<justisaur@gmail.com> wrote:

On Saturday, March 19, 2022 at 9:15:58 AM UTC-7, PW wrote:

Hey guys - I started off as a Confessor. It comes with two
incarnations. How do I use them? I think most classes need something
to be able to use them, but I think a Confessor comes with one. A
seal, I think it is called.

Also, I need to upgrade Dexterity, Arcane, and Faith. How do I do
that? I think it costs money so I haven't been able to do that yet at
a Site of Grace.

-pw

I think it puts the finger seal in the shield slot, you swap with the
left d-pad between them (the cross thing on the controller, press
the left part of it.)

After it's in hand you press the left light attack button to cast.

If it's in your right hand or you move it there then it uses the right
attack button to cast.

- Justisaur

*--

I am playing with the keyboard and mouse. It works SO much better in
this one than DS3! Except the camera gets me killed once in a while.
I am going to stick with the KB and mouse. Feels comfortable.

-pw

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On Sat, 19 Mar 2022 19:03:48 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<justisaur@gmail.com> wrote:

On Saturday, March 19, 2022 at 9:00:02 AM UTC-7, PW wrote:

On Sat, 19 Mar 2022 04:31:24 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<just...@gmail.com> wrote:

On Friday, March 18, 2022 at 10:16:24 PM UTC-7, rms wrote:

I am in a cave with a pack of wolves. I am a Confessor.

You bought a torch I hope, that will help illuminate it, and sets the
wolves on fire too :)

I agree on the torch. It's not great damage and it's a bit slow, but the
other early option is using it instead of a shield, which is a bad idea
against those.

I found that particular cave a bit much right off, I'd stick to the soldiers
and explore elsewhere until you've upgraded a bit and have a bit of an
arsenal of weapons/spells to try on them. Some weapons do much better
than others against wolves/dogs, typically ones with lots of reach, fast and
sweeping or poking attacks. Using leap attack can also help. You can
also try backing up and after the first two attacks let them hit your shield
on the their 3rd attack so you can get a guard attack. Circling can help, >> >but that cave is a bit tight for that. Something ranged to pull them one
at a time helps too.

It's much easier co-op.

- Justisaur

*--

I have tried to get them in a narrow part so they can't surround me so
easily. Also along an edge but I fell off one time and got eaten
alive by the pack.

I don't like how some of them seem still alive after I kill them. I
don't like to even see fake one's suffer. If I am watching an old
western and there is a dog or wolf in it, I sometimes fast forward
through that part :-)

If it's any help, It's been speculated everything still moving is
undead in souls series. All the wolves wouldn't keep coming
back after you died if they weren't.

The fact you get 'runes' from them on their 'death' also seems
to indicate that.

There's always the possibility they're evil spirits that have taken
the form of wolves - fairly common in myth too.

P.S.

I forgot to mention you want to avoid anything underground
until you get your own spirit wolves, as there's almost always
a boss that you can summon them (or other spirits) to help
with and they're balanced for using either co-op or summons.

Unfortunately only the boss, you have to get through the
rest of the dungeons without help unless co-op. I really wish
they would allow you to use the summons anywhere you
could co-op. I'm having trouble finding co-op people now that
I'm past the newbie area.

Go looking for graces on the surface, once you have your
horse, go back to the first merchant wearing a Santa suit,
agree with the nice lady that shows up to get the spirit
wolves.

- Justisaur

*--

All right, all right. All new to me! :-)

Summons, boss, newbie area, spirit wolves (especially - whatever they
are)....

I will stay away from the underground. I made the mistake of going
through the green fog in the cave and was instantly killed by some
huge creature. Thankfully, my stuff was left outside the entrance and
I just had to kill the wolves to go back and get it. I did finally
kill them all but I assume they will be back if I go back there.

The guards on duty and the one praying are now a piece of cake so
I am learning something! :-)

Thanks,

-pw

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On Sat, 19 Mar 2022 22:26:22 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<justisaur@gmail.com> wrote:

On Saturday, March 19, 2022 at 7:40:59 PM UTC-7, PW wrote:

I will stay away from the underground. I made the mistake of going
through the green fog in the cave and was instantly killed by some
huge creature. Thankfully, my stuff was left outside the entrance and
I just had to kill the wolves to go back and get it. I did finally
kill them all but I assume they will be back if I go back there.

Great on killing the wolves!

The guards on duty and the one praying are now a piece of cake so
I am learning something! :-)

I'd head toward the obelisk NE that shows where the area map is, there's
a couple graces near there. Once you rest at one or both (I forget) you >should get your horse, then you can head back to the merchant
for the lady that gives you the 'lone wolves' spirit summon.

The map itself is heavily guarded, but once you have the horse you
can ride through and pick it up, or try to thin out the mobs via
stealth or whatnot, there's a couple weapons and other treasure
there too. There's a knight there that's a bit tough, but
if you can pull him out you might be able to kill him.

I don't remember if you can use your wolves there, but if you
can there's a bit too many mobs and you probably want to
thin out loners as much as you can first.

- Justisaur

*--

Okay, I got the horse. I guess I will head back to the old church
with santa clause the merchant now. looks pretty overwhelming where I
got it any way. Lots of guards that I don't think I am good enough to
take care of.

I keep hearing a voice accusing me that I don't see him but I don't
see anything. I got killed by some zombie looking thing with a torch,
then a few more went after me and killed me. I had to go back and get
my stuff before I died again since I lost my horse whistle.

I still can't figure out to use the urgent heal. hopefully it will
help me heal so I don't die so easily. Or how to put the steed
whistle in my pocket or quickbar (what/where is that?).

-pw

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On Wednesday, March 23, 2022 at 8:44:17 PM UTC-7, PW wrote:

On Sat, 19 Mar 2022 22:26:22 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<just...@gmail.com> wrote:

On Saturday, March 19, 2022 at 7:40:59 PM UTC-7, PW wrote:

I will stay away from the underground. I made the mistake of going
through the green fog in the cave and was instantly killed by some
huge creature. Thankfully, my stuff was left outside the entrance and
I just had to kill the wolves to go back and get it. I did finally
kill them all but I assume they will be back if I go back there.

Great on killing the wolves!

The guards on duty and the one praying are now a piece of cake so
I am learning something! :-)

I'd head toward the obelisk NE that shows where the area map is, there's
a couple graces near there. Once you rest at one or both (I forget) you >should get your horse, then you can head back to the merchant
for the lady that gives you the 'lone wolves' spirit summon.

The map itself is heavily guarded, but once you have the horse you
can ride through and pick it up, or try to thin out the mobs via
stealth or whatnot, there's a couple weapons and other treasure
there too. There's a knight there that's a bit tough, but
if you can pull him out you might be able to kill him.

I don't remember if you can use your wolves there, but if you
can there's a bit too many mobs and you probably want to
thin out loners as much as you can first.

- Justisaur

*--

Okay, I got the horse. I guess I will head back to the old church
with santa clause the merchant now. looks pretty overwhelming where I
got it any way. Lots of guards that I don't think I am good enough to
take care of.

I keep hearing a voice accusing me that I don't see him but I don't
see anything.

That's a puzzle of sorts. You can look up a spoiler for it if you want.
I don't think it's terribly important from what I've seen so far if
don't want to bother.

I got killed by some zombie looking thing with a torch,
then a few more went after me and killed me.

The torch guys are annoying especially on horseback. You
may want to dismount to deal with them or shoot them
with something ranged. Engaging them on horseback will
usually result in them knocking your horse out from under you. At
least unless you catch them unawares or get really good at mounted
combat. When you get your horse knocked out from under you get
stunned a good while while getting up and typically get piled on and
may be killed before you can even get up.

I had to go back and get
my stuff before I died again since I lost my horse whistle.

The horse whistle will stay with you, it's in your inventory
somewhere.

I still can't figure out to use the urgent heal. hopefully it will
help me heal so I don't die so easily.

Looks like it's up arrow to change your spell, which you can
see what's selected in the hud. You need the finger seal
in hand. Left & right arrows change which weapon/shield
you're wielding.

That reminds me, you might want to go through the settings
and turn HUD always on. I know it's more cinematic, but I was
far too often wanting to know my health, what weapons and
spell I had selected etc. when it wasn't showing.

Or how to put the steed
whistle in my pocket or quickbar (what/where is that?).

Menu button (looks to default to holding down E)
* The quick pouch is on the upper right.
* The items slots you have to go into equipment from the
menu bar, then the items are underneath the right and left
weapon slots. Once you've got various items in them the
selected item can be changed with down arrow on the
keyboard.

- Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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I keep hearing a voice accusing me that I don't see him but I don't
see anything.

That's a puzzle of sorts. You can look up a spoiler for it if you want.
I don't think it's terribly important from what I've seen so far if
don't want to bother.

I ignored the voice.

I got killed by some zombie looking thing with a torch,
then a few more went after me and killed me.

The torch guys are annoying especially on horseback. You
may want to dismount to deal with them or shoot them
with something ranged. Engaging them on horseback will
usually result in them knocking your horse out from under you. At
least unless you catch them unawares or get really good at mounted
combat. When you get your horse knocked out from under you get
stunned a good while while getting up and typically get piled on and
may be killed before you can even get up.

That is what they did (gang up on me) and what happened (knocked my
off the horse).

I had to go back and get
my stuff before I died again since I lost my horse whistle.

The horse whistle will stay with you, it's in your inventory
somewhere.

It was in the inventory, but disabled. I had to go get everything for
it to be enabled.

I still can't figure out to use the urgent heal. hopefully it will
help me heal so I don't die so easily.

Looks like it's up arrow to change your spell, which you can
see what's selected in the hud. You need the finger seal
in hand. Left & right arrows change which weapon/shield
you're wielding.

That reminds me, you might want to go through the settings
and turn HUD always on. I know it's more cinematic, but I was
far too often wanting to know my health, what weapons and
spell I had selected etc. when it wasn't showing.

Or how to put the steed
whistle in my pocket or quickbar (what/where is that?).

Menu button (looks to default to holding down E)
* The quick pouch is on the upper right.
* The items slots you have to go into equipment from the
menu bar, then the items are underneath the right and left
weapon slots. Once you've got various items in them the
selected item can be changed with down arrow on the
keyboard.

- Justisaur

*--

Thanks for remembering that I am using the keyboard!

I will try your tips tonight!

-pw

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I have to stop printing things out. I am going to have to buy another
toner cartridge soon because of this game!

I am afraid to do anything wrong because of hard DS3 was! :-)

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I guess I should start finding and make my way to the rountable hold
but I may not be ready yet.

I also need to get down the basic operations, etc...

-pw

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I think I should put the whistle in the pouch but I don't know which
slots in the equipment are for the pouch. The whistle went into the
quick item arrow slots. I know that to access the pouch it is E + an
arrow.

I will try highlighting an item and then press E to use it.

Thanks,

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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That reminds me, you might want to go through the settings
and turn HUD always on. I know it's more cinematic, but I was
far too often wanting to know my health, what weapons and
spell I had selected etc. when it wasn't showing.

I did it!

Or how to put the steed
whistle in my pocket or quickbar (what/where is that?).

I put it in the quickbar (?). It is in the down arrow. Since it is
not a left or right mouse button, how do I use what is in the up arrow
and down arrow slots?

I can't call my horse!

-pw

Menu button (looks to default to holding down E)
* The quick pouch is on the upper right.
* The items slots you have to go into equipment from the
menu bar, then the items are underneath the right and left
weapon slots. Once you've got various items in them the
selected item can be changed with down arrow on the
keyboard.

- Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On Thursday, March 24, 2022 at 8:31:42 PM UTC-7, PW wrote:

I think I should put the whistle in the pouch but I don't know which
slots in the equipment are for the pouch. The whistle went into the
quick item arrow slots. I know that to access the pouch it is E + an
arrow.

I will try highlighting an item and then press E to use it.

It looks like you can hold down E and press the down arrow.

You may want to remap it to number slots. I found an article on the
PC controls that looks helpful:

https://vulkk.com/2022/02/26/elden-ring-pc-and-console-controls-guide-and-lists/

- Justisaur

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On Fri, 25 Mar 2022 06:33:05 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<justisaur@gmail.com> wrote:

On Thursday, March 24, 2022 at 8:31:42 PM UTC-7, PW wrote:

I think I should put the whistle in the pouch but I don't know which
slots in the equipment are for the pouch. The whistle went into the
quick item arrow slots. I know that to access the pouch it is E + an
arrow.

I will try highlighting an item and then press E to use it.

It looks like you can hold down E and press the down arrow.

You may want to remap it to number slots. I found an article on the
PC controls that looks helpful:

https://vulkk.com/2022/02/26/elden-ring-pc-and-console-controls-guide-and-lists/

- Justisaur

*--

I tried the reverse order. E then the item and that didn't work so
tonight I will try it like you suggested.

But, I am going to also follow the person's advice from that article
and assign it to a number key or whatever.

I have a programmable keyboard (Corsair K95) and mouse (Corsair Iron
Claw) but I never tried to program either using their iCue Software.

My last few keyboards and mice have been programmable but never used
that feature - but I wouldn't buy either that wasn't! LOL!

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On Fri, 25 Mar 2022 06:33:05 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<justisaur@gmail.com> wrote:

On Thursday, March 24, 2022 at 8:31:42 PM UTC-7, PW wrote:

I think I should put the whistle in the pouch but I don't know which
slots in the equipment are for the pouch. The whistle went into the
quick item arrow slots. I know that to access the pouch it is E + an
arrow.

I will try highlighting an item and then press E to use it.

It looks like you can hold down E and press the down arrow.

You may want to remap it to number slots. I found an article on the
PC controls that looks helpful:

https://vulkk.com/2022/02/26/elden-ring-pc-and-console-controls-guide-and-lists/

- Justisaur

*--

Not sure MP is for me :-)

Cooperation can be a thankless task in Elden Ring

https://www.pcgamer.com/cooperation-can-be-a-thankless-task-in-elden-ring/?utm_campaign=XPG_NWL

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How do I get things back? I failed once so I guess everythng is now
gone for good. Not sure what is stored there.

:) All you've lost are souls/runes, the game currency. Open your inventory, by now you should have picked up many 'gold runes'. You can sell those to merchants for cash/runes to level up (I suggest leveling Vigor
first). Save them though until you want to buy something or level up, and
try not to carry around too much cash. There is actually an inventory item,
a 'twig', that you can use before a boss fight to prevent losing your cash
on death. I'll start using those myself.

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On Fri, 25 Mar 2022 06:33:05 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<justisaur@gmail.com> wrote:

On Thursday, March 24, 2022 at 8:31:42 PM UTC-7, PW wrote:

I think I should put the whistle in the pouch but I don't know which
slots in the equipment are for the pouch. The whistle went into the
quick item arrow slots. I know that to access the pouch it is E + an
arrow.

I will try highlighting an item and then press E to use it.

It looks like you can hold down E and press the down arrow.

You may want to remap it to number slots. I found an article on the
PC controls that looks helpful:

https://vulkk.com/2022/02/26/elden-ring-pc-and-console-controls-guide-and-lists/

- Justisaur

*---

Well, I just did myself in. I thought I would be cute and gallop
through StromGate (Gatefront) and hop the stone fence to avoid the
arrows but some big thing killed me immediately and now everything is
right where I died and when I go there I get killed immediately again!

How do I get things back? I failed once so I guess everythng is now
gone for good. Not sure what is stored there.

-pw

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On Fri, 25 Mar 2022 18:07:36 -0600, "rms"
<rsquiresMOO@MOOflashMOO.net> wrote:

How do I get things back? I failed once so I guess everythng is now
gone for good. Not sure what is stored there.

:) All you've lost are souls/runes, the game currency. Open your
inventory, by now you should have picked up many 'gold runes'. You can sell >those to merchants for cash/runes to level up (I suggest leveling Vigor >first). Save them though until you want to buy something or level up, and >try not to carry around too much cash. There is actually an inventory item, >a 'twig', that you can use before a boss fight to prevent losing your cash
on death. I'll start using those myself.

*--

I thought I read that it is more than just runes! I didn't have much
any way. Thanks!

I do have some gems or something similar in inventory. I don't
remember what they are.

I thought Melina was supposed to put the roundtable on the map as a
site of grace or something. I know it is supposed to be sort of
hidden but I don't see it. Not sure I need to go there as maybe it is
mostly for MP?

I have some throwables like the Kukri that I need to figure out how to
equip and use. I am looking up the Lone Wolf Ashes right now.

I thought the witch gave me the Spirit Calling bell. I will look
again.

I am playing as a Confessor, off-line. I am at the Gatefront ruins. I
have killed a few sentries and the wolf by melee but the harder ones
like the one with the spear/javelin/lance is getting the best of me.
Need to keep working on my melee skills since I think I have any
incarnations that may be of much use. I am only level 12 and have
only been able to upgrade once and I think I chose strength or faith.
Next I will choose vigor.

I am spending 100 times, at least, looking things up than actually
playing the game! I remember the good old days with manuals and maps
and the incredible book I bought about how to play Skyrim. I bet it
almost weighs 5 pounds!

Thanks rms!!

-pw

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I accidently moved the lone wolf ashes to my chest. now they won't go
back to inventory.

do they have to be in inventory? I think I had them in a quick item
but would like to move them to the pouch.

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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spend time sitting at a fire, and equipping/unequipping ashes, and also time
in the inventory looking at the different slots and categories and how to
move stuff around, and reading the item descriptions, there's a button for accessing the description screen. ER has a very long learning curve, so
start learning now, be patient and get better at just moving around, calling and riding the horse, switching to two-handed weapon stance. Rather than go through that gate to the west at first, go back behind the starting castle
to the east then south and explore to the castle Morne. I found the boss
there the easiest in the game, and there are lots of minor enemies to learn combat from.

rms

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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Hi rms,

spend time sitting at a fire, and equipping/unequipping ashes, and also time >in the inventory looking at the different slots and categories and how to >move stuff around, and reading the item descriptions, there's a button for >accessing the description screen. ER has a very long learning curve, so

Fire?

There is no pause feature except bringing up the inventory menu from
what I have read. The world is always alive!

I am playing with the keyboard and mouse and it is working out fine,
even when fighting. The camera isn't bugging me too much.

start learning now, be patient and get better at just moving around, calling >and riding the horse, switching to two-handed weapon stance. Rather than go >through that gate to the west at first, go back behind the starting castle
to the east then south and explore to the castle Morne. I found the boss >there the easiest in the game, and there are lots of minor enemies to learn >combat from.

Great advice. I didn't realize there was something behind where I
started! Blinders on! But no texting and driving.

But there is this underground cave in the ruins where I am at that
looks so inviting. Justisaur recommended I skip places like that
until I get better and leveled up. Only level 14 now. I put my last
two points into Vigor. I think the next one into Strength and then
more Faith probably since I am a Confessor. I will study the
attributes again. I am probably not ready for Gatefront with the
archers and huge monster.

Thanks so much!

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On Sat, 26 Mar 2022 08:31:56 -0600, "rms"
<rsquiresMOO@MOOflashMOO.net> wrote:

spend time sitting at a fire, and equipping/unequipping ashes, and also time >in the inventory looking at the different slots and categories and how to >move stuff around,

*--

Speaking about moving stuff around, I accidently put my lone wolf
ashes in the chest and it seems impossilbe to move it back to
inventory. There is a right-click option to move it back to inventory
but it does not work.

Do they have to be in inventory or a pouch or quickbar item? Are they
okay stuck in the chest?

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On Sat, 26 Mar 2022 10:28:29 -0600, PW
<iamnotusingonewithAgent@notinuse.com> wrote:

On Sat, 26 Mar 2022 08:31:56 -0600, "rms"
<rsquiresMOO@MOOflashMOO.net> wrote:

spend time sitting at a fire, and equipping/unequipping ashes, and also time >>in the inventory looking at the different slots and categories and how to >>move stuff around,

*--

Speaking about moving stuff around, I accidently put my lone wolf
ashes in the chest and it seems impossilbe to move it back to
inventory. There is a right-click option to move it back to inventory
but it does not work.

Do they have to be in inventory or a pouch or quickbar item? Are they
okay stuck in the chest?

-pw

Well, I think my lone wolf ashes are gone for good. They are stuck in
the chest and I can't move them to inventory even though that is a
right-click option.

I googled and googled but could not find a solution or topic.

Rats! I never got to use them!

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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Well, I think my lone wolf ashes are gone for good. They are stuck in
the chest and I can't move them to inventory even though that is a >right-click option.

I think by 'chest' it just means a different part of the inventory. It
is possible to 'drop' items permanently, but don't do that. Anyway try
hitting the inventory button and go to the righthand side with your pouch
items (these are not the quick select items) find the one tied to spirit summons and switch to it there. You can also go to the full Inventory menu entry on the left hand side, and one of the tabs (the book icon) shows all
the ashes of war you possess.

You can use them any time you see the white portal icon on screen. they
don't get used up, you can experiment with them as much as you wish. Again, practice moving such powerups around and activating them to see the effect. You'll get plenty more ashes as you go.

Also, another cool tip: if you bring up the map, a keypress will let you
set a marker with any of ten different symbols if you want to come back
there later (on my Xbox controller, it's the X button). Use the map often,
and obelisk symbols show where additional map segments are found to expand coverage.

rms

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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Oh, I am pretty sure that the lone wolf icons used to appear in one of
the quick item slots before they got moved to inventory. now they are
nowhere to be seen. probably same thing for the long sword.

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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Hi,

Sort Chest is only at Site of Grace
Left=Inventory Right=Chest
Inventory (book) tab inv is empty, chest is lone wolf ashes
Melee arms tab: I clicked on lordsworns straight sword under
inventory, it moved to chest. right-clicking on it in chest and
selecting move to inventory does nothing, just like with wolf ashes.

Now both are stuck in the chest forever and cannot be used any longer.

I have to pouch icons on the right hand side of the screen, anywhere!

I am playing on PC with keyboard and mouse, not controller.

I keep reading about the pouch icons on web pages but they do NOT
exist.

I did find on a page that E plus and arrow key is pouch item.

They show nothing because the pouch is empty.

thanks

-pw



On Sat, 26 Mar 2022 16:05:33 -0600, "rms"
<rsquiresMOO@MOOflashMOO.net> wrote:

Well, I think my lone wolf ashes are gone for good. They are stuck in
the chest and I can't move them to inventory even though that is a >>right-click option.

I think by 'chest' it just means a different part of the inventory. It
is possible to 'drop' items permanently, but don't do that. Anyway try >hitting the inventory button and go to the righthand side with your pouch >items (these are not the quick select items) find the one tied to spirit >summons and switch to it there. You can also go to the full Inventory menu >entry on the left hand side, and one of the tabs (the book icon) shows all >the ashes of war you possess.

You can use them any time you see the white portal icon on screen. they >don't get used up, you can experiment with them as much as you wish. Again, >practice moving such powerups around and activating them to see the effect. >You'll get plenty more ashes as you go.

Also, another cool tip: if you bring up the map, a keypress will let you
set a marker with any of ten different symbols if you want to come back
there later (on my Xbox controller, it's the X button). Use the map often, >and obelisk symbols show where additional map segments are found to expand >coverage.

rms

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Saturday, March 26, 2022 at 7:10:49 PM UTC-7, PW wrote:

Hi,

Sort Chest is only at Site of Grace
Left=Inventory Right=Chest
Inventory (book) tab inv is empty, chest is lone wolf ashes
Melee arms tab: I clicked on lordsworns straight sword under
inventory, it moved to chest. right-clicking on it in chest and
selecting move to inventory does nothing, just like with wolf ashes.

There's a button you have to use to switch to storage, then anything
you click in it will go into your inventory. I can't find that one for keyboard controls, but it's probably the same as one of the action
buttons. I'd suggest trying E or R. Hitting it again will change back
to inventory.

If that doesn't work you should be able to right click and it'll bring
up a menu showing the keys and what they do there.

You should be alright for the cave with wolves once you figure
out how to use your own wolves. They won't be available there
until you enter the boss room. You can summon them when
you see a ghostly tombstone above your bars in the lower
left. There's some areas you can use them above ground,
usually where there's a lot of mobs. They might be
available around the fort with the knight.

- Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Sat, 26 Mar 2022 20:14:00 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<justisaur@gmail.com> wrote:

On Saturday, March 26, 2022 at 7:10:49 PM UTC-7, PW wrote:

Hi,

Sort Chest is only at Site of Grace
Left=Inventory Right=Chest
Inventory (book) tab inv is empty, chest is lone wolf ashes
Melee arms tab: I clicked on lordsworns straight sword under
inventory, it moved to chest. right-clicking on it in chest and
selecting move to inventory does nothing, just like with wolf ashes.

There's a button you have to use to switch to storage, then anything
you click in it will go into your inventory. I can't find that one for >keyboard controls, but it's probably the same as one of the action
buttons. I'd suggest trying E or R. Hitting it again will change back
to inventory.

If that doesn't work you should be able to right click and it'll bring
up a menu showing the keys and what they do there.

There is a right-click menu like I said. Move to inventory. Like I
said - it does nothing! It also says move to chest, even though the
item is already in the chest. It doesn't do anything either.

I also lost my torch somehow! Maybe I dropped it.

Thanks. I will try some more things tomorrow.

You should be alright for the cave with wolves once you figure
out how to use your own wolves. They won't be available there
until you enter the boss room. You can summon them when
you see a ghostly tombstone above your bars in the lower
left. There's some areas you can use them above ground,
usually where there's a lot of mobs. They might be
available around the fort with the knight.

- Justisaur

Already killed the wolves a long time ago. But I bet they are back!
:-)

I am at the Seaside Ruins now. Been Aghee Lake Norht, pillage the
ruins and the guards their. That is why I was able to level up a
couple of times :-) Been to Stormgate, and a couple other sites of
grace.

You have a good memory Justisaur, remember things way back when you
started out!!

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Hi,

I switched to a controller and got my lone wolf ashes back to the
inventory part and also saw my torch available again.

I also saw some inventory screens that I never saw before. I think
maybe I did not click on the X to view more but I think I did!

No I am back with keyboard and mouse and things are looking and
operating like they did when I just had the controller hooked up.

Got me what is going on! I guess it is me!

However, even with the controller I saw no signs of a pouch any where.

I am going to go back and read Justisaur's comments and see what I am
missing. I have printed all of his and rms's out and highlighted
everything important.

And check out the dozens of ER web pages that I have bookmarked and
printed out!

Back to the game!

Thanks!

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Best thread ever, I can enjoy playing the whole game without actually
playing it :-)

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 3/28/2022 11:50 AM, JAB wrote:

Best thread ever, I can enjoy playing the whole game without actually
playing it :-)

Including all the frustrations on no documentation and unresolved bugs! :P

--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Monday, March 28, 2022 at 1:26:06 PM UTC-7, Dimensional Traveler wrote:

On 3/28/2022 11:50 AM, JAB wrote:

Best thread ever, I can enjoy playing the whole game without actually playing it :-)

Including all the frustrations on no documentation and unresolved bugs! :P

Got us there.

The PVP is crazy right now, I'm getting a bit higher level and getting more invasions, and starting to see instant death builds. I never saw anything
like that in DS3. They fixed one that wasn't instant last patch, but
you just had to get near someone and you'd get build up of rot in about
3 seconds and die. The one I'm seeing now is apparently using the
very last boss' weapon which whips out a ton of bleed attacks and kills
you even faster with little you can do unless you maintain range.

I'm still getting occasional CTDs, they aren't happening enough to make
me real irritable, but often enough to be notable. They still seem to
be about 1/3 to 1/2 connected to co-op/pvp though.

Co-op is really annoying due to connection problems, I'm probably up
to about 3/4 ending in connection lost on either side within 3 minutes,
and bouts of being unable to summon anyone with the helpful message
"unable to summon cooperator." Speculation is this is due to the game
having sold about 3 times as many units as they expected and servers
not able to keep up with the volume.

I haven't really seen much if any non-online related bugs (can't be sure
on the CTDs. I could try playing offline I guess.) At least if you don't
count when I was using a VC that was way under minimum specs.

I haven't really had any issues with the controls myself, they're only
slightly different than previous DS games. The menus especially
are a bit weird how they work, but again similar to previous games.

- Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

So, if you go to this link about populating the pouch:

https://gamerant.com/elden-ring-pouch-equip-items-slots-assign-use-how/


There are two sets of slots on the right in the equipment menu: Pouch
and Gestures.

Anyone know how to get these to appear with the keyboard??

I cannot populate the pouch.

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Monday, March 28, 2022 at 9:01:39 PM UTC-7, PW wrote:

So, if you go to this link about populating the pouch:

https://gamerant.com/elden-ring-pouch-equip-items-slots-assign-use-how/

There are two sets of slots on the right in the equipment menu: Pouch
and Gestures.

Anyone know how to get these to appear with the keyboard??

I cannot populate the pouch.

https://gameskeys.net/how-to-put-items-in-pouch-and-use-quick-items-in-elden-ring/#:~:text=When%20you%20press%20the%20F,them%20completely%20from%20these%20slots.

From the article Esc to open up the Main Menu.

- Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Tue, 29 Mar 2022 07:51:35 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<justisaur@gmail.com> wrote:

On Monday, March 28, 2022 at 9:01:39 PM UTC-7, PW wrote:

So, if you go to this link about populating the pouch:

https://gamerant.com/elden-ring-pouch-equip-items-slots-assign-use-how/


There are two sets of slots on the right in the equipment menu: Pouch
and Gestures.

Anyone know how to get these to appear with the keyboard??

I cannot populate the pouch.

https://gameskeys.net/how-to-put-items-in-pouch-and-use-quick-items-in-elden-ring/#:~:text=When%20you%20press%20the%20F,them%20completely%20from%20these%20slots.

From the article Esc to open up the Main Menu.

- Justisaur

That works Justisaur!! So happy!

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Tue, 29 Mar 2022 10:10:18 -0600, PW
<iamnotusingonewithAgent@notinuse.com> wrote:

On Tue, 29 Mar 2022 07:51:35 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<justisaur@gmail.com> wrote:

On Monday, March 28, 2022 at 9:01:39 PM UTC-7, PW wrote:

So, if you go to this link about populating the pouch:

https://gamerant.com/elden-ring-pouch-equip-items-slots-assign-use-how/


There are two sets of slots on the right in the equipment menu: Pouch
and Gestures.

Anyone know how to get these to appear with the keyboard??

I cannot populate the pouch.

https://gameskeys.net/how-to-put-items-in-pouch-and-use-quick-items-in-elden-ring/#:~:text=When%20you%20press%20the%20F,them%20completely%20from%20these%20slots.

From the article Esc to open up the Main Menu.

- Justisaur

That works Justisaur!! So happy!

-pw

*--

Now I have to look at all my notes to figure out how to add this sword
I just picked up to the 4-way that is on the lower left hand side of
the screen. Right now I just have the starting weapon and the new
sword is in the equipment screen but I can't seem to figure out how to
add it. It requires 16 strength and 10 dexterity. I have 16 strength
and 13 dexterity.

I know Justisaur told me how to do this. I just have so many notes
now and I can't find anything useful to help do this for playing it on
the PC and using a mouse and keyboard.

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Now I have to look at all my notes to figure out how to add this sword
I just picked up to the 4-way that is on the lower left hand side of
the screen. Right now I just have the starting weapon and the new
sword is in the equipment screen but I can't seem to figure out how to
add it. It requires 16 strength and 10 dexterity. I have 16 strength
and 13 dexterity.

I know Justisaur told me how to do this. I just have so many notes
now and I can't find anything useful to help do this for playing it on
the PC and using a mouse and keyboard.

-pw

*--

Okay - I figured that one out on my own. Brought up the equipment
menu and clicked on an empty slot next the current sword. I don't
like the new sword. It is bigger, heavier, and slower.

But, I got the brass shield which I read is supposed to be a good
thing. However, it doesn't look like I can have two shields in the
quickbar.

I wish there was one website that had everything I need to know about
playing ER on a PC with a mouse and keyboard! Aargh! What a waste of
time!

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Tuesday, March 29, 2022 at 5:26:14 PM UTC-7, PW wrote:

Now I have to look at all my notes to figure out how to add this sword
I just picked up to the 4-way that is on the lower left hand side of
the screen. Right now I just have the starting weapon and the new
sword is in the equipment screen but I can't seem to figure out how to
add it. It requires 16 strength and 10 dexterity. I have 16 strength
and 13 dexterity.

...

I don't
like the new sword. It is bigger, heavier, and slower.

A bastard sword (probably the variant lordsworn.) A decent
weapon, but if you prefer your broadsword, stick with it. It is a
trade off on speed vs. single hit damage and improved stagger,
guard breaking and range.

Just FYI you get half again your strength when 2 handing, which
means you can use a weapon with up to 24 strength requirement
2 handed, but that means your block is going to be pretty weak.

I know Justisaur told me how to do this. I just have so many notes
now and I can't find anything useful to help do this for playing it on
the PC and using a mouse and keyboard.

But, I got the brass shield which I read is supposed to be a good
thing. However, it doesn't look like I can have two shields in the
quickbar.

You can, there should be 3 left hand slots where the shield
you're wearing is. I'd replace the ones you're using though,
weight can be an issue, just make sure it doesn't say 'heavy
load' on your weight, otherwise you'll be slow rolling and
you may regain stamina slower (not sure, I haven't seen
anything about the stamina slow, but that's how it worked
in DS3.)

I wish there was one website that had everything I need to know about
playing ER on a PC with a mouse and keyboard! Aargh! What a waste of
time!

It does seem pretty scattered for mouse & keyboard. I briefly tried it again but all the fancy stuff seems to be a lot harder to do. It may be alright
if I gave it time, but didn't feel like relearning right now.

- Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Tue, 29 Mar 2022 19:04:01 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<justisaur@gmail.com> wrote:

On Tuesday, March 29, 2022 at 5:26:14 PM UTC-7, PW wrote:

Now I have to look at all my notes to figure out how to add this sword
I just picked up to the 4-way that is on the lower left hand side of
the screen. Right now I just have the starting weapon and the new
sword is in the equipment screen but I can't seem to figure out how to
add it. It requires 16 strength and 10 dexterity. I have 16 strength
and 13 dexterity.

...

I don't
like the new sword. It is bigger, heavier, and slower.

A bastard sword (probably the variant lordsworn.) A decent
weapon, but if you prefer your broadsword, stick with it. It is a
trade off on speed vs. single hit damage and improved stagger,
guard breaking and range.

Just FYI you get half again your strength when 2 handing, which
means you can use a weapon with up to 24 strength requirement
2 handed, but that means your block is going to be pretty weak.

I know Justisaur told me how to do this. I just have so many notes
now and I can't find anything useful to help do this for playing it on
the PC and using a mouse and keyboard.

But, I got the brass shield which I read is supposed to be a good
thing. However, it doesn't look like I can have two shields in the
quickbar.

You can, there should be 3 left hand slots where the shield
you're wearing is. I'd replace the ones you're using though,
weight can be an issue, just make sure it doesn't say 'heavy
load' on your weight, otherwise you'll be slow rolling and
you may regain stamina slower (not sure, I haven't seen
anything about the stamina slow, but that's how it worked
in DS3.)

Extra weight even if the other stuff is in my inventory or chest and
it seems like I am not using it?

It seems like I can't have two shields in the quick slots. I am doing
so with the swords (two).

I fortified the original shield and sword - whatever it was called. I
will check the stats and compare. Should I sell them even if they are
...+1?

I wish there was one website that had everything I need to know about
playing ER on a PC with a mouse and keyboard! Aargh! What a waste of
time!

It does seem pretty scattered for mouse & keyboard. I briefly tried it again >but all the fancy stuff seems to be a lot harder to do. It may be alright
if I gave it time, but didn't feel like relearning right now.

- Justisaur

Fancy like what?

Steam says I have played ER for 19 hours. I am just leveled up to 20.
I don't seem to farewell with most enemies, just the typical ones.


-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Tuesday, March 29, 2022 at 8:43:12 PM UTC-7, PW wrote:

On Tue, 29 Mar 2022 19:04:01 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<just...@gmail.com> wrote:

Extra weight even if the other stuff is in my inventory or chest and
it seems like I am not using it?

Only stuff in the quick slots - right/left hand. So if you've got like a
a couple different weapons, a bow, a shield and a seal (holy symbol)
then you could get heavy or overburdened. Talisman & all armor
worn also count.

The quick pouch and quick bar where flasks & whistle are don't count.
Inventory & storage also don't count.

It seems like I can't have two shields in the quick slots. I am doing
so with the swords (two).

You can. Like I said you probably don't want two shields, but it's
possible for different art of wars. Typically I only put one shield on
and change it out if I need to because they tend to weigh a lot
and I don't change it often enough to be in the quick slot.

I fortified the original shield and sword - whatever it was called. I
will check the stats and compare. Should I sell them even if they are
...+1?

Don't sell any right/left hand items, some you can only get one.
Just put anything in storage you don't want cluttering up your
Inventory.

You can sell duplicates of weapons & armor, though I'd keep two
of each before selling them. They aren't worth enough to sell,
you'll get runes, and it'd be a shame to find you sold something
that you want and can't get more of.

I wish there was one website that had everything I need to know about
playing ER on a PC with a mouse and keyboard! Aargh! What a waste of
time!

It does seem pretty scattered for mouse & keyboard. I briefly tried it again >but all the fancy stuff seems to be a lot harder to do. It may be alright >if I gave it time, but didn't feel like relearning right now.

Fancy like what?

Two handing and going back to 1 handing in the middle of fights, the quick slots etc.

Although I find myself using the wrong combinations to do that stuff
all the time, so I'm not sure it's better.

Steam says I have played ER for 19 hours. I am just leveled up to 20.
I don't seem to farewell with most enemies, just the typical ones.

It'll get easier, 20 is still pretty early. I'd work on getting one weapon to +3, then your seal. You'll want something blunt, and a bow or crossbow
upgraded as well eventually. Don't waste your stones on weapons you
aren't sure you like as it'll be awhile before you can buy them to
do a lot of experimenting.

- Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

I did get my first CTD yesterday. There is a new problem with moving
now and then with WASD. Sometimes I can only move backwards or
forward, no left or right. I actually moved backwards all they way to
a Site of Grace yesterday! I happened to be in line with it.

I kept trying to move left or right and the game locked up then
crashed to desktop. Not being able to move is happening now for a few
seconds (enough to get killed easily which has happened a couple of
times). I just back off now and wait for the buffer to catch up.

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Wed, 30 Mar 2022 07:26:44 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<justisaur@gmail.com> wrote:

On Tuesday, March 29, 2022 at 8:43:12 PM UTC-7, PW wrote:

On Tue, 29 Mar 2022 19:04:01 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<just...@gmail.com> wrote:

Extra weight even if the other stuff is in my inventory or chest and
it seems like I am not using it?

Only stuff in the quick slots - right/left hand. So if you've got like a
a couple different weapons, a bow, a shield and a seal (holy symbol)
then you could get heavy or overburdened. Talisman & all armor
worn also count.

The quick pouch and quick bar where flasks & whistle are don't count. >Inventory & storage also don't count.

I am so glad I asked!!! That is big!

It seems like I can't have two shields in the quick slots. I am doing
so with the swords (two).

You can. Like I said you probably don't want two shields, but it's
possible for different art of wars. Typically I only put one shield on
and change it out if I need to because they tend to weigh a lot
and I don't change it often enough to be in the quick slot.

I fortified the original shield and sword - whatever it was called. I
will check the stats and compare. Should I sell them even if they are
...+1?

Don't sell any right/left hand items, some you can only get one.
Just put anything in storage you don't want cluttering up your
Inventory.

You can sell duplicates of weapons & armor, though I'd keep two
of each before selling them. They aren't worth enough to sell,
you'll get runes, and it'd be a shame to find you sold something
that you want and can't get more of.

Okay - more essential stuff to know!

I wish there was one website that had everything I need to know about
playing ER on a PC with a mouse and keyboard! Aargh! What a waste of
time!

It does seem pretty scattered for mouse & keyboard. I briefly tried it again
but all the fancy stuff seems to be a lot harder to do. It may be alright >> >if I gave it time, but didn't feel like relearning right now.

Fancy like what?

Two handing and going back to 1 handing in the middle of fights, the quick >slots etc.

Although I find myself using the wrong combinations to do that stuff
all the time, so I'm not sure it's better.

Okay - it doesn't look too complicated to switch to two-handed with
the mouse and keyboard. I think it is shift-lmb-rmb. I will make sure
when the time comes. I don't think I can carry or use two-handed
weapons now.

Steam says I have played ER for 19 hours. I am just leveled up to 20.
I don't seem to farewell with most enemies, just the typical ones.

It'll get easier, 20 is still pretty early. I'd work on getting one weapon to >+3, then your seal.

I can upgrade my finger seal? How so?

You'll want something blunt, and a bow or crossbow
upgraded as well eventually. Don't waste your stones on weapons you
aren't sure you like as it'll be awhile before you can buy them to
do a lot of experimenting.

- Justisaur

I sure wish I had a long range weapon like a bow and arrow sometimes!
I haven't found any yet.

I used some throwing things that starts with a K but they ran out. I
only had 4. They certainly came in handy. I have other arrow looking
things. I forget what they are called right now.

Thanks!

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Wednesday, March 30, 2022 at 9:29:25 AM UTC-7, PW wrote:

I did get my first CTD yesterday. There is a new problem with moving
now and then with WASD. Sometimes I can only move backwards or
forward, no left or right. I actually moved backwards all they way to
a Site of Grace yesterday! I happened to be in line with it.

I kept trying to move left or right and the game locked up then
crashed to desktop. Not being able to move is happening now for a few
seconds (enough to get killed easily which has happened a couple of
times). I just back off now and wait for the buffer to catch up.

When I was using kbm I turned with the mouse. Much more accurate, and
a lot better free-aiming for ranged attacks. I had to up the sensitivity to 9 as it was turning too slow otherwise.

Do you have the right/left problem in other games?

- Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Wednesday, March 30, 2022 at 9:15:49 AM UTC-7, PW wrote:

On Wed, 30 Mar 2022 07:26:44 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<just...@gmail.com> wrote:

On Tuesday, March 29, 2022 at 8:43:12 PM UTC-7, PW wrote:

On Tue, 29 Mar 2022 19:04:01 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<just...@gmail.com> wrote:

Extra weight even if the other stuff is in my inventory or chest and
it seems like I am not using it?

Only stuff in the quick slots - right/left hand. So if you've got like a
a couple different weapons, a bow, a shield and a seal (holy symbol)
then you could get heavy or overburdened. Talisman & all armor
worn also count.

The quick pouch and quick bar where flasks & whistle are don't count. >Inventory & storage also don't count.

I am so glad I asked!!! That is big!

It seems like I can't have two shields in the quick slots. I am doing
so with the swords (two).

You can. Like I said you probably don't want two shields, but it's
possible for different art of wars. Typically I only put one shield on
and change it out if I need to because they tend to weigh a lot
and I don't change it often enough to be in the quick slot.

I fortified the original shield and sword - whatever it was called. I
will check the stats and compare. Should I sell them even if they are
...+1?

Don't sell any right/left hand items, some you can only get one.
Just put anything in storage you don't want cluttering up your
Inventory.

You can sell duplicates of weapons & armor, though I'd keep two
of each before selling them. They aren't worth enough to sell,
you'll get runes, and it'd be a shame to find you sold something
that you want and can't get more of.

Okay - more essential stuff to know!

I wish there was one website that had everything I need to know about >> >> playing ER on a PC with a mouse and keyboard! Aargh! What a waste of
time!

It does seem pretty scattered for mouse & keyboard. I briefly tried it again
but all the fancy stuff seems to be a lot harder to do. It may be alright >> >if I gave it time, but didn't feel like relearning right now.

Fancy like what?

Two handing and going back to 1 handing in the middle of fights, the quick >slots etc.

Although I find myself using the wrong combinations to do that stuff
all the time, so I'm not sure it's better.

Okay - it doesn't look too complicated to switch to two-handed with
the mouse and keyboard. I think it is shift-lmb-rmb. I will make sure
when the time comes. I don't think I can carry or use two-handed
weapons now.

I think shift l/r mb is heavy attack.

Any weapon can be 2 handed, even shields can be, then you can bash mobs
with them, which can be effective.

Steam says I have played ER for 19 hours. I am just leveled up to 20.
I don't seem to farewell with most enemies, just the typical ones.

It'll get easier, 20 is still pretty early. I'd work on getting one weapon to
+3, then your seal.

I can upgrade my finger seal? How so?

Same way & place as weapons & shields.

You'll want something blunt, and a bow or crossbow
upgraded as well eventually. Don't waste your stones on weapons you
aren't sure you like as it'll be awhile before you can buy them to
do a lot of experimenting.

- Justisaur

I sure wish I had a long range weapon like a bow and arrow sometimes!
I haven't found any yet.

Being a part caster you'll eventually end up with some ranged attack
spells, but a long range bow or crossbow can still be useful. There's
arrows and bows for sale at one of the merchants you can find around,
maybe at the roundtable too.

You'll be able to get recipies for crafting bolts & arrows, though the
regular ones will be worse than the ones you can buy, the poison
and maybe some of the other special ones may be worth it.

I used some throwing things that starts with a K but they ran out. I
only had 4. They certainly came in handy. I have other arrow looking
things. I forget what they are called right now.

Kurkri, they can cause bleed which does a lot of damage to high hp mobs.
You'll find a lot of various throwing items around. You can make bone
knives if you've got the recipe which are similar. Or again the poison
etc ones or the ones you can buy are better.

The firebombs are pretty good, and the cracked pots you make them
with return to your inventory once they're used, which isn't intuitive. I kept saving them until I realized that.

- Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Wed, 30 Mar 2022 09:36:32 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<justisaur@gmail.com> wrote:

On Wednesday, March 30, 2022 at 9:29:25 AM UTC-7, PW wrote:

I did get my first CTD yesterday. There is a new problem with moving
now and then with WASD. Sometimes I can only move backwards or
forward, no left or right. I actually moved backwards all they way to
a Site of Grace yesterday! I happened to be in line with it.

I kept trying to move left or right and the game locked up then
crashed to desktop. Not being able to move is happening now for a few
seconds (enough to get killed easily which has happened a couple of
times). I just back off now and wait for the buffer to catch up.

When I was using kbm I turned with the mouse. Much more accurate, and
a lot better free-aiming for ranged attacks. I had to up the sensitivity to 9 >as it was turning too slow otherwise.

Do you have the right/left problem in other games?

- Justisaur

*--

I use the mouse for a camera, just like with UT2004 and other games
then use WASD to move where the camera is pointing. And of course
fire with the mouse buttons.

You know what else I have noticed? Maybe this happens in other games.
I have two monitors. When I am playing ER, my mouse cursors is moving
on the 2nd monitor, mimicking what I am doing with it (of course,
otherwise that would be weird :-)).

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

You'll be able to get recipies for crafting bolts & arrows, though the >regular ones will be worse than the ones you can buy, the poison
and maybe some of the other special ones may be worth it.

I used some throwing things that starts with a K but they ran out. I
only had 4. They certainly came in handy. I have other arrow looking
things. I forget what they are called right now.

Kurkri, they can cause bleed which does a lot of damage to high hp mobs. >You'll find a lot of various throwing items around. You can make bone
knives if you've got the recipe which are similar. Or again the poison
etc ones or the ones you can buy are better.

The firebombs are pretty good, and the cracked pots you make them
with return to your inventory once they're used, which isn't intuitive. I kept
saving them until I realized that.

- Justisaur

*-

How important is crafting in ER? I always have found it like some
puzzles in adventure games and others and tedious and not interesting.
I even stayed away from it quite a bit in Skyrim and other games.

I guess I just don't like crafting.

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Thursday, March 31, 2022 at 9:48:25 AM UTC-7, PW wrote:

You'll be able to get recipies for crafting bolts & arrows, though the >regular ones will be worse than the ones you can buy, the poison
and maybe some of the other special ones may be worth it.

I used some throwing things that starts with a K but they ran out. I
only had 4. They certainly came in handy. I have other arrow looking
things. I forget what they are called right now.

Kurkri, they can cause bleed which does a lot of damage to high hp mobs. >You'll find a lot of various throwing items around. You can make bone >knives if you've got the recipe which are similar. Or again the poison
etc ones or the ones you can buy are better.

The firebombs are pretty good, and the cracked pots you make them
with return to your inventory once they're used, which isn't intuitive. I kept
saving them until I realized that.

- Justisaur

*-

How important is crafting in ER? I always have found it like some
puzzles in adventure games and others and tedious and not interesting.
I even stayed away from it quite a bit in Skyrim and other games.

I guess I just don't like crafting.

I don't usually like crafting either. It's pretty easy really though. It's not
necessary at all, just some things make the game (a lot) easier.

Most of it can be done with spells as a faith based caster without crafting not too long into the game, and probably eventually all of it. It's still nice to have
some element of bombs you don't have memorized in spells, both so you can
deal with resistant mobs, and so you have something at range that does good damage as a backup if you run out of fp.

I definitely find myself using crafting more on my non-spell casters. The missile
crafting is pretty useful for non-spellcasting classes. Arrows, bolts, knives and bombs.

The poison & rot cleansing boluses, and resistance to those effect meats
are pretty important at keeping you from dying, but I don't use them a lot.
I tend to run away and let them wear off before actually triggering poison/rot. Faith casters get cleansing spells not long into the game, but the resistance meats are still useful. I'm not sure if there's resistance spells or not. There
was in DS3, so probably are.

I'm used to using the cleansing items, firebombs, and weapon greases from
DS3, though you don't craft them there, you can just buy them or find them.

- Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Thu, 31 Mar 2022 10:48:21 -0600, PW
<iamnotusingonewithAgent@notinuse.com> wrote:

You'll be able to get recipies for crafting bolts & arrows, though the >>regular ones will be worse than the ones you can buy, the poison
and maybe some of the other special ones may be worth it.

I used some throwing things that starts with a K but they ran out. I
only had 4. They certainly came in handy. I have other arrow looking
things. I forget what they are called right now.

Kurkri, they can cause bleed which does a lot of damage to high hp mobs. >>You'll find a lot of various throwing items around. You can make bone >>knives if you've got the recipe which are similar. Or again the poison
etc ones or the ones you can buy are better.

The firebombs are pretty good, and the cracked pots you make them
with return to your inventory once they're used, which isn't intuitive. I kept
saving them until I realized that.

- Justisaur

*-

How important is crafting in ER? I always have found it like some
puzzles in adventure games and others and tedious and not interesting.
I even stayed away from it quite a bit in Skyrim and other games.

I guess I just don't like crafting.

-pw

*--

For instance, I just got the Flas of Wondrous Physic and Crystal Tears
at the Mistwood Outskirts Site of Grace.

It looks confusing to use and may not have good results:

https://vulkk.com/2022/03/14/elden-ring-flask-of-wondrous-physick-and-crystal-tears-guide/

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Have you two (rms, Justisaur) seen this?

Elden Ring No Death Speedrun

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9lDh8IX8g4&ab_channel=nikobellic


Two and a half-hours to finish the game. I only watched about a
half-hour of it. Maybe this is more my style ;-)

Don't know how the person levels up (maybe not) because I don't see
much killing at all.

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Thursday, March 31, 2022 at 12:27:49 PM UTC-7, PW wrote:

Have you two (rms, Justisaur) seen this?

Elden Ring No Death Speedrun

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9lDh8IX8g4&ab_channel=nikobellic

Two and a half-hours to finish the game. I only watched about a
half-hour of it. Maybe this is more my style ;-)

Don't know how the person levels up (maybe not) because I don't see
much killing at all.

Typically speed runners will start with the big rune item and use that,
and they may get more either from friends they summon, or cheat
for them. I've read there's some mobs that are fairly easy to get
to and kill that drop 10k runes each too, but I'm just going the 'explore everything' way.

I'm not really interested in speed runners as they typically use glitches
to get by stuff and don't really engage with the game. But to each their
own.

Technically I could probably beat the game right now with my Str character
as you only need 2 great runes which I have, assuming I could beat the
last boss and whatever's between us, and I knew how to get to them. But
that'd leave about 2/3 of the game unexplored for me.

- Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Thursday, March 31, 2022 at 11:48:50 AM UTC-7, PW wrote:

On Thu, 31 Mar 2022 10:48:21 -0600, PW
<iamnotusing...@notinuse.com> wrote:

You'll be able to get recipies for crafting bolts & arrows, though the >>regular ones will be worse than the ones you can buy, the poison
and maybe some of the other special ones may be worth it.

I used some throwing things that starts with a K but they ran out. I
only had 4. They certainly came in handy. I have other arrow looking
things. I forget what they are called right now.

Kurkri, they can cause bleed which does a lot of damage to high hp mobs. >>You'll find a lot of various throwing items around. You can make bone >>knives if you've got the recipe which are similar. Or again the poison >>etc ones or the ones you can buy are better.

The firebombs are pretty good, and the cracked pots you make them
with return to your inventory once they're used, which isn't intuitive. I kept
saving them until I realized that.

- Justisaur

*-

How important is crafting in ER? I always have found it like some
puzzles in adventure games and others and tedious and not interesting.
I even stayed away from it quite a bit in Skyrim and other games.

I guess I just don't like crafting.

-pw

*--

For instance, I just got the Flas of Wondrous Physic and Crystal Tears
at the Mistwood Outskirts Site of Grace.

It looks confusing to use and may not have good results:

https://vulkk.com/2022/03/14/elden-ring-flask-of-wondrous-physick-and-crystal-tears-guide/

That's a special one, I wouldn't really count that as crafting. I usually use that on bosses, as it
resets after you rest. I've mostly just been using the regen & 1 hit negation crystal tears in it.

- Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Thu, 31 Mar 2022 16:07:20 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<justisaur@gmail.com> wrote:

On Thursday, March 31, 2022 at 12:27:49 PM UTC-7, PW wrote:

Have you two (rms, Justisaur) seen this?

Elden Ring No Death Speedrun

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9lDh8IX8g4&ab_channel=nikobellic


Two and a half-hours to finish the game. I only watched about a
half-hour of it. Maybe this is more my style ;-)

Don't know how the person levels up (maybe not) because I don't see
much killing at all.

Typically speed runners will start with the big rune item and use that,
and they may get more either from friends they summon, or cheat
for them. I've read there's some mobs that are fairly easy to get
to and kill that drop 10k runes each too, but I'm just going the 'explore >everything' way.

I'm not really interested in speed runners as they typically use glitches
to get by stuff and don't really engage with the game. But to each their >own.

Technically I could probably beat the game right now with my Str character
as you only need 2 great runes which I have, assuming I could beat the
last boss and whatever's between us, and I knew how to get to them. But >that'd leave about 2/3 of the game unexplored for me.

- Justisaur

* --

I get it. I saw other on-line outlines in the video and that he or
she was playing multiplayer.

I did see some new areas from the little I watched.

I am totally getting into areas that I think are over my head, that
not on my map like Greyolls Dragon Barrow which is some sort of other "dimension". I finally got to the rountable. Same for that. Didn't
really know what to do there.

Then I went back into the cave with the wolfs and got killed because I
really wasn't paying attention. Then went back to get my runes and
got killed again! Lost about 2,000! So I am starting from scratch
again now.

I know there are other areas around the Church of Ellah that I
probably should find and explore before going to other places. I
think I read that I can get around that tunnel to Stormgate that has
that boss and guards shooting arrows. The speed runner just trotted
through it. I tried that and got killed by the boss. But maybe I
didn't go fast enough.

Going to be a while until I can get to level 21. I really don't want
to kill all the guards and wolves again at the barracks near there.
Things are getting a little tedious and I am not strong enough to take
on the big guys yet.

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Thursday, March 31, 2022 at 4:38:30 PM UTC-7, PW wrote:

On Thu, 31 Mar 2022 16:07:20 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<just...@gmail.com> wrote:

On Thursday, March 31, 2022 at 12:27:49 PM UTC-7, PW wrote:

Have you two (rms, Justisaur) seen this?

Elden Ring No Death Speedrun

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9lDh8IX8g4&ab_channel=nikobellic


Two and a half-hours to finish the game. I only watched about a
half-hour of it. Maybe this is more my style ;-)

Don't know how the person levels up (maybe not) because I don't see
much killing at all.

Typically speed runners will start with the big rune item and use that,
and they may get more either from friends they summon, or cheat
for them. I've read there's some mobs that are fairly easy to get
to and kill that drop 10k runes each too, but I'm just going the 'explore >everything' way.

I'm not really interested in speed runners as they typically use glitches >to get by stuff and don't really engage with the game. But to each their >own.

Technically I could probably beat the game right now with my Str character >as you only need 2 great runes which I have, assuming I could beat the
last boss and whatever's between us, and I knew how to get to them. But >that'd leave about 2/3 of the game unexplored for me.

- Justisaur

* --

I get it. I saw other on-line outlines in the video and that he or
she was playing multiplayer.

I did see some new areas from the little I watched.

I am totally getting into areas that I think are over my head, that
not on my map like Greyolls Dragon Barrow which is some sort of other "dimension". I finally got to the rountable. Same for that. Didn't
really know what to do there.

There's some militia outside the building at Greyolls that if you can kill them drop a
lot of runes. You may need to upgrade your sword to +3, but there's some areas you
can do it with the help of your wolves, they can also be snuck up on and backstabbed
as most are alone. It may be worth trying if you're feeling stuck. If you avoid the
giant outside (just go left or right and make a bit of a berth) and ride down the road it'll take you to a safer grace.

The roundtable is sort of like a town. There's a invocation merchant,
you should buy all the spells he has eventually, if you found any books
you can give them to him and he can teach you more spells.

There's also a two-faced merchant you can buy a bunch of stuff from
and give any bell bearings you come across for more stuff to buy.

There's a smith there that can take your weapons higher than
+3 if you have the stones as well.

There's some other people that move there after you meet & complete
parts of their quests, so it's not a bad idea to check back after meeting people that disappear out in the world.

Then I went back into the cave with the wolfs and got killed because I
really wasn't paying attention. Then went back to get my runes and
got killed again! Lost about 2,000! So I am starting from scratch
again now.

I know there are other areas around the Church of Ellah that I
probably should find and explore before going to other places. I
think I read that I can get around that tunnel to Stormgate that has
that boss and guards shooting arrows. The speed runner just trotted
through it. I tried that and got killed by the boss. But maybe I
didn't go fast enough.

Hmm... maybe you mean the castle at the south of weeping penisula?
There's a giant golem with a big bow. You can go far left and avoid
getting shot by him, and he's not too bad if you get up close, just
roll away from any foot stomps, and if close he won't be able
to shoot you, and you can kill him wailing on his foot.

Or maybe you mean the balista crew at Stormveil, again you can circle
around, this time from the north so they can't shoot you. I'd avoid that
until you've explored just about everywhere else though, that leads
to Margit who's going to be real tough until you're at least 30, I took
him on at 40.

- Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

There's some militia outside the building at Greyolls that if you can kill them drop a
lot of runes. You may need to upgrade your sword to +3, but there's some areas you
can do it with the help of your wolves

*--

I never seem to be in an area where I can use my wolves. They are in
my pocket but I do not see the blue-gray icon on my screen very often.

I just fell off a cliff because I moved my horse the wrong way. I
finally built up to 2000 again. F-that!

Maybe they are at the top of the cliff. Will check.

I found info on how to backup the save games but I forgot to do that
right before I started a few minutes ago!

Aargh!!

Running out of time for tonight. Heading to bed in a little while. My
wife is back from her trip so no more day time playing! :-)

I should take a break and see if I can get through the end of God of
War. I am at a very frustrating and tedious battle so I must be
close.

Or boot up Trainz and run some or a flight sim, both for something
completely different!

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

ere's some militia outside the building at Greyolls that if you can
kill them drop a

lot of runes. You may need to upgrade your sword to +3, but there's some areas you
can do it with the help of your wolves, they can also be snuck up on and backstabbed
as most are alone. It may be worth trying if you're feeling stuck. If you avoid the
giant outside (just go left or right and make a bit of a berth) and ride down >the road it'll take you to a safer grace.

I am going to head there tonight or this weekend. I played around
with the Giant! What a riot! I got him to follow me into the church
after whacking him on the back of the knees. He started taking apart
the church! lol!!

The roundtable is sort of like a town. There's a invocation merchant,
you should buy all the spells he has eventually, if you found any books
you can give them to him and he can teach you more spells.

There's also a two-faced merchant you can buy a bunch of stuff from
and give any bell bearings you come across for more stuff to buy.

There's a smith there that can take your weapons higher than
+3 if you have the stones as well.

There's some other people that move there after you meet & complete
parts of their quests, so it's not a bad idea to check back after meeting >people that disappear out in the world.

I did meet them all and did upgrade a couple of things but not the
smith. I don't have any stones left.

Then I went back into the cave with the wolfs and got killed because I
really wasn't paying attention. Then went back to get my runes and
got killed again! Lost about 2,000! So I am starting from scratch
again now.

I know there are other areas around the Church of Ellah that I
probably should find and explore before going to other places. I
think I read that I can get around that tunnel to Stormgate that has
that boss and guards shooting arrows. The speed runner just trotted
through it. I tried that and got killed by the boss. But maybe I
didn't go fast enough.

Hmm... maybe you mean the castle at the south of weeping penisula?
There's a giant golem with a big bow. You can go far left and avoid
getting shot by him, and he's not too bad if you get up close, just
roll away from any foot stomps, and if close he won't be able
to shoot you, and you can kill him wailing on his foot.

Or maybe you mean the balista crew at Stormveil, again you can circle
around, this time from the north so they can't shoot you. I'd avoid that >until you've explored just about everywhere else though, that leads
to Margit who's going to be real tough until you're at least 30, I took
him on at 40.

That is the one. The balista. I did find a page a couple days ago
about how to go around and come in from the back but I don't remember
where it is. Didn't print it out or bookmark it.

Funny, one website didn't mention how hard Margit is to beat.
Described it as no big deal.

Thanks!

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

I have to look at the settings and see if I can specify a monitor to
play ER with.

It has started causing me trouble because my mouse is allowed to move
to the other monitor. I think that is also causing me my keyboard to
not be recognized all of a sudden. And another CTD.

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Hi,

What does it mean when I try to upgrade my equipment and am told
something like "something else is required" (or something similar) and
it shows something like "Smithing Stones 7[1]? I think I may have
gotten that backwards.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Friday, April 1, 2022 at 9:53:50 AM UTC-7, PW wrote:

Hi,

What does it mean when I try to upgrade my equipment and am told
something like "something else is required" (or something similar) and
it shows something like "Smithing Stones 7[1]? I think I may have
gotten that backwards.

So the number in parens is the level of the smithing stone, level (1) stones can upgrade up to +3, it costs 2 for +1, 4 for +2 and 6 for +3 or 12 in total.

It should show at the top above the weapon before you upgrade the number
you have and if you don't have enough the number required in red.

You have to scour around a bit for stones, but there's a mine at one end of the lake in the middle or linwood that has a lot. The mobs there take very little damage from normal weapons, you really need a blunt one, or magic or fire.
Fire causes some of them to explode, so is dangerous to use though.

There's also an area there where the only way out is to kill the boss, who's pretty tough, so make sure you spend any runes you have before exploring
there.

- Justisaur

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Fri, 1 Apr 2022 13:54:07 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<justisaur@gmail.com> wrote:

On Friday, April 1, 2022 at 9:53:50 AM UTC-7, PW wrote:

Hi,

What does it mean when I try to upgrade my equipment and am told
something like "something else is required" (or something similar) and
it shows something like "Smithing Stones 7[1]? I think I may have
gotten that backwards.

So the number in parens is the level of the smithing stone, level (1) stones >can upgrade up to +3, it costs 2 for +1, 4 for +2 and 6 for +3 or 12 in total.

It should show at the top above the weapon before you upgrade the number
you have and if you don't have enough the number required in red.

I see red, for sure! I have upgraded my original sword to +2 but I am
stuck there. I am also wondering how to check for damage as I assume
weapons wear down. I am using it almost all the time because it is so
fast and light compared to the long sword (the only other weapon I
have except for a flail and not sure if I can use that yet).

You have to scour around a bit for stones, but there's a mine at one end of the
lake in the middle or linwood that has a lot. The mobs there take very little >damage from normal weapons, you really need a blunt one, or magic or fire. >Fire causes some of them to explode, so is dangerous to use though.

I am still blowing myself up alot with the rocket launcher in Unreal
Tournament :-)

There's also an area there where the only way out is to kill the boss, who's >pretty tough, so make sure you spend any runes you have before exploring >there.

That is my strategy now with ruins! Use most of them to level up or
purchase something with them but rarely have enough for any thing.

So far, I have lost almost 10,000 runes from doing stupid things and
being too laid back and cocky in fights. And I am staying away from
the big guys because I am only a level 23 Confessor with just 17 vigor
and 16 strength and still have only the two original incarnations that
the character came with! And 24 hours into the game so far. That is
saying alot for me!

I have a bunch of stuff in my inventory that I don't remember what
they are for. Maybe I will make a list and ask your advice on what to
do with them and when.

Thanks again,

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

There's also an area there where the only way out is to kill the boss, who's >pretty tough, so make sure you spend any runes you have before exploring >there.

- Justisaur

*---

By the way, I made it to Stormhill Shack Site of Grace!

But I didn't fight my way there. I took some hits from the arrows,
and the giant dropped down from the top. I healed at the SOG outside
the entrance, went back in and lured him to the arch. Then got on my
horse and galloped almost to the barracks. He followed me most of the
way and I ran around it then galloped and jumped all the way out to
the Stormhill Shack of Grace and healed.

Am I proud that I took the easy way through? I'll admit that I
chickened out but I could not find the way to the other side that I
read about and what you told me about so there!!! :-)

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

So far, I have lost almost 10,000 runes from doing stupid things and
being too laid back and cocky in fights.

Don't be discouraged when this happens. This game has a *very long* learning and growth curve, but now I've acquired Talismans that are strong powerups, as well as strengthening my weapons and using two-handed stance, I take down those giants in 3-4 hits on horseback. Have you found the 'Flask
of Wonderous etc' yet? Buy any learning scroll that vendors have, and read them in Inventory, there are many good tips and recipes in them.

rms

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Fri, 1 Apr 2022 19:49:53 -0600, "rms" <rsquiresMOO@MOOflashMOO.net>
wrote:

So far, I have lost almost 10,000 runes from doing stupid things and
being too laid back and cocky in fights.

Don't be discouraged when this happens. This game has a *very long*
learning and growth curve, but now I've acquired Talismans that are strong >powerups, as well as strengthening my weapons and using two-handed stance, I >take down those giants in 3-4 hits on horseback. Have you found the 'Flask >of Wonderous etc' yet? Buy any learning scroll that vendors have, and read >them in Inventory, there are many good tips and recipes in them.

rms

Hello rms!

I have the flask of wondrous physick but haven't figured out what to
do with it.

I don't know what Talismans are.

Thanks for the tips on the scrolls. I have been spending my runes on
leveling up my Confessor's vigor to 20 because I read that would be a
good start. Instead of blowing all my runes. Don't have much to
spend on other stuff.

Level 23 now. More research, more research, make more notes, less
playing time.

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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Moved this from rms in the the What have you been playing in March
from Spalls:

Yeah, I'm finally learning to keep an eye on my rune total, so that if

I'm close to leveling up I'll put off tackling a hard fight or new
area
until that's done (but not all the time, some risk keeps it spicy).
BTW If
you haven't fought the first big boss Margit yet, <<

*--

I think it was it that I lured out of the gate and rode straight
through to Stormhill Shack site of grace.

Found a golden seed an used it to increase the amount of HP/FP that is replenished in the flasks.

Have the Wondrous Physick
Ashes of War: Storm Stomp, Determination, Sacred Blade

Normanic Warrious Cookbook (7)

I was afraid to go to the gate of the Stormveil Castle.

Have a Somber Smoothing Stone.

A bunch of guards glothing that I should probably sell.

Level 23, vigor at 17, str 16, faith 15, I think dext 14 o 15,...

there's an item

specifically used in fighting him, available from a vendor called
Patches in
a small cave in a ravine in the north; look up the location in an
online
map.

<<

Haven't found the place.

Also that 'Wonderous Flask' and the various talismans I'm finding

around help immensely in powering up your combat or defense; explore
every

<<

Haven't figured out how to use it yeat.

cave, you can summon spirits in nearly all the caves (not the catacombs though alas). I'm Level 60+ and with these powerups I can beat giants

with
a few swipes now, very satisfying!

I'm not using multiplayer help, but any spirit summon and NPC I use
whenever
available!

rms

<<

I am playing single player only.

Thanks!!

-wp

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Oh I have smithing stone[1] 6[3] red 6 the sword I started with +2

2 (3) Greatsword
red 4(3) finger seal
2(3) brass shield.

That is it so far.

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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There's some militia outside the building at Greyolls that if you can kill them drop a
lot of runes. You may need to upgrade your sword to +3, but there's some areas you
can do it with the help of your wolves, they can also be snuck up on and backstabbed
as most are alone. It may be worth trying if you're feeling stuck. If you avoid the
giant outside (just go left or right and make a bit of a berth) and ride down >the road it'll take you to a safer grace.

*---

Way too tough and fast for me, and they send some yellow stuff, waves
and I die instantly. Somehow I did kill one and got a bunch of runes.

Tried another with wolves but they were too slow to attack so I died.
I had the bad guy target.

What did I do wrong?/

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On 4/1/2022 8:26 PM, PW wrote:

There's some militia outside the building at Greyolls that if you can kill them drop a
lot of runes. You may need to upgrade your sword to +3, but there's some areas you
can do it with the help of your wolves, they can also be snuck up on and backstabbed
as most are alone. It may be worth trying if you're feeling stuck. If you avoid the
giant outside (just go left or right and make a bit of a berth) and ride down
the road it'll take you to a safer grace.

*---

Way too tough and fast for me, and they send some yellow stuff, waves
and I die instantly. Somehow I did kill one and got a bunch of runes.

Tried another with wolves but they were too slow to attack so I died.
I had the bad guy target.

What did I do wrong?/

Died? :P


--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On Friday, April 1, 2022 at 8:26:31 PM UTC-7, PW wrote:

There's some militia outside the building at Greyolls that if you can kill them drop a
lot of runes. You may need to upgrade your sword to +3, but there's some areas you
can do it with the help of your wolves, they can also be snuck up on and backstabbed
as most are alone. It may be worth trying if you're feeling stuck. If you avoid the
giant outside (just go left or right and make a bit of a berth) and ride down
the road it'll take you to a safer grace.

*---

Way too tough and fast for me, and they send some yellow stuff, waves
and I die instantly. Somehow I did kill one and got a bunch of runes.

Tried another with wolves but they were too slow to attack so I died.
I had the bad guy target.

What did I do wrong?/

Try on foot, and sneak up on them, preferably for a backstab.
You can try to use the assassin's approach spell to help with
the sneaking, as you can run while sneaking with it.

When they do their 'claw' you can roll left or right and won't get
hit if your timing is good, not too hard on that attack, or you'll
sometimes roll out of the area.

Their melee attacks are nasty though, try to roll toward them
when they look like they're doing those unless you're far
enough that you think you can roll far enough away to avoid
them.

For using the wolves, you may want to stay on horseback, and
lure the mob back toward them, keeping the wolves between
you and them. Once the wolves have agro, do a ride-by attack,
then ride off and again, and repeat.

---

For your seal, you may want to try the claw seal since you've
put some into strength, it scales more off of strength. You
also want to try two-handing that as that increases strength
by 50%. You should've got it from the big beast guy there.
The spell he gives you is also pretty good short range and
low damage, but very fast and cheap to cast.

If you didn't get that yet, you may need to kill the skeleton in a
boat first, which is north of the warp you got there with.

For other spells, as I said, go check with the prophet guy at
roundtable, he sells some, and if you find any books
you can give those to him so you can buy more.
He has Flame Sling which is like the pyromancer starting
spell in DS3, and may make it easier to kill the militia. He
also has Cure Poison, which is very useful if you don't
have the curing bolus recipe yet. Some people also
swear by Catch Flame, but it's a melee fire spell,
it does a lot of damage, but I find it too hard to use.

There's a spell in kind

Should I keep upagrading the original sword that my Confessor came
with? It is now at +2. I like it because it is fast but I think
there must be better weapons than it. I don't have any more stones
now any way. I think I do have a Somber Smithing Stone though.

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On Fri, 1 Apr 2022 21:21:07 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

On 4/1/2022 8:26 PM, PW wrote:

There's some militia outside the building at Greyolls that if you can kill them drop a
lot of runes. You may need to upgrade your sword to +3, but there's some areas you
can do it with the help of your wolves, they can also be snuck up on and backstabbed
as most are alone. It may be worth trying if you're feeling stuck. If you avoid the
giant outside (just go left or right and make a bit of a berth) and ride down
the road it'll take you to a safer grace.

*---

Way too tough and fast for me, and they send some yellow stuff, waves
and I die instantly. Somehow I did kill one and got a bunch of runes.

Tried another with wolves but they were too slow to attack so I died.
I had the bad guy target.

What did I do wrong?/

Died? :P

Well, I was doing just fine until then :-)

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

For using the wolves, you may want to stay on horseback, and
lure the mob back toward them, keeping the wolves between
you and them. Once the wolves have agro, do a ride-by attack,
then ride off and again, and repeat.

---

*--
That makes sense. I will try that! They are nasty!

For your seal, you may want to try the claw seal since you've
put some into strength, it scales more off of strength. You
also want to try two-handing that as that increases strength
by 50%. You should've got it from the big beast guy there.
The spell he gives you is also pretty good short range and
low damage, but very fast and cheap to cast.

I will look up the claw seal. Is the NPC you are talking about the
big thing in the building where the site of grace is? It only mumbles
when I press E. Maybe I should look in my inventory? I wasn't t old
anything.

If you didn't get that yet, you may need to kill the skeleton in a
boat first, which is north of the warp you got there with.

I gotta remember where that was first!

For other spells, as I said, go check with the prophet guy at
roundtable, he sells some, and if you find any books
you can give those to him so you can buy more.
He has Flame Sling which is like the pyromancer starting
spell in DS3, and may make it easier to kill the militia. He
also has Cure Poison, which is very useful if you don't
have the curing bolus recipe yet. Some people also
swear by Catch Flame, but it's a melee fire spell,
it does a lot of damage, but I find it too hard to use.

There's a spell in kind of the middle of Weeping Peninsula
across a bridge to the south that is one of the best
faith spells "The Flame of Frenzy" which looks utterly
insane, you may want to try to go down there for that.
There's also 2 or 3 sacred tears to upgrade your flasks
with in the temples along the north coast of the Peninsula.

I will search the net for that place.

Once you can get past Margit, there's a spellbook
behind one of the stone imps you have to use a key for
that has Black Flame which I found really good too.
You have to give the book to the guy in Roundtable to
buy the spell.

Okay - I lured Margit out and went around him and jumped and galloped
to the Stormhill Shack SOG. Then I eventually went back in through
where I came out and killed a few guards but I didn't notice a stone
imp. Do I have to find it through the gate?

Oh there's also a spellbook with faith spells behind
two more stone keyed imps in the basement of
Roundtable. It has the Assassin's approach you already
have, and Darkness which blinds for a second so you
can hide, but I haven't been able to figure out how
to use that effectively, or assassin's approach for that
matter.

- Justisaur

*--

Okay - next time I am at the rountable I will look for it. I didn't
see steps down.

Right now I am reading up on how to customize the flask of wondrous
physick. It seems pretty important!

Thanks!

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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O

Right now I am reading up on how to customize the flask of wondrous
physick. It seems pretty important!

*--

Screw 'em. Very confusing right now https://vulkk.com/2022/03/14/elden-ring-flask-of-wondrous-physick-and-crystal-tears-guide/

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Oh - Thanks for coming back up to the surface to help me Justisaur!
:-)

-pw

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