Elden Ring (PS5)

[DaHeckIzDat]

I got to Malenia today.


Nope. Nope, nope, nope. I'm not doing this, FromSoft. I am taking my ball and going home.

[DrLitch]

I got to Malenia today.
Nope. Nope, nope, nope. I'm not doing this, FromSoft. I am taking my ball and going home.

She really is not all that hard if you go for a cheesy method.

Larval Tear - change your specs, stack at least 50 into arcane (put whatever you can into strength or dex, either does not matter because weapon scaling will be a D for both). Get a pair of Great Stars (they are in the Atlas plateau). Smith them as far as you can, 24 or 25. Put a bleed ash of war on both. Equip both and powerstance. Equip feathers outfit to increase jump attacks and stack talismans that increase attack power with bleed and repeated strikes (same for physics flask - you want attack power to stack). Final preparation - equip a shield that you can cycle quickly - brass shield good, medium and absorbs 100% damage. If you are fat rolling, go to Caelid where that giant warrior jar is hanging out and fight the NPC summons to get a talisman that greatly increases your carry weight.

The trick is simple: Jump attack Malenia. The Great Stars will stack both bleed and strike - you will demolish her poise if you land 4 jump attacks. Get your riposte, and one more attack and splosh - massive bleed damage. It will take under a minute to have Malenia at 1/4 a healthbar. She will inevitably waterfowl and that is where your shield comes in - cycle quickly, it saves from dodge rolling since the timings are rather tight. She will top up her health to around 1/3 off maximum, but the next wave of 4 jump attacks from you along with the bleed proc and you will have her in second phase. Rinse repeat in second phase.

The problem with this approach is it makes most the bosses in Elden Ring stupid easy to beat, even the DLC ones. I do not think the game AI can handle you jumping around like a frog with a weapon that stacks bleed very quickly and breaks through the poise of most bosses in 3 or 4 hits.

The alternative approach to Malenia? Stupid hard boss and a 2 hour marathon to develop the muscle memory to nail the dodge timings (something that is a lot easier if you light roll and can read the animation for waterfowl). I beat her with the Reduvia Dagger in my second run and it took around 2 hours to do so. Just cheese the boss and get the trophy achievement and move on... you can always go back to the Harry Potter Queen boss and spend a larval tear to go back to your original stats....

[DaHeckIzDat]

I need to get done with Elden Ring as soon as possible so I can have an open schedule for when Valheim releases on PS5 tomorrow.

[DaHeckIzDat]

Screw Malenia. Screw Placidusax. Screw Maliketh. It's like FromSoft is intentionally giving their fans the finger with these bosses. "Did you just say you're having fun with our game? HOW ABOUT NOW?!"

[DrLitch]

Screw Malenia. Screw Placidusax. Screw Maliketh. It's like FromSoft is intentionally giving their fans the finger with these bosses. "Did you just say you're having fun with our game? HOW ABOUT NOW?!"

Elden Ring simultaneously exists as the hardest Souls game and the easiest - utterly dependent on build and a few tricks.

Maliketh = raging bastard of a difficult boss, no cheese method and he is too slippery for me to enjoy. Bit like FF7 Remake when you use Cloud against an airborne enemy and you are basically a sitting duck.

Placidusax only sucks because the runback is ridiculously long. Pretty easy boss given he has a blind spot and you can just stand there and wail on him only occasionally running away from his AOE blasts. Darkeater Midr in DS3 was waaaaaay harder.

[DaHeckIzDat]

I've made an executive decision. Even though I hate to do this so close to the end of the game, I'm done. I looked up a guide and saw that I still have one more area left after this, and a bunch of two-phase boss fights that are even harder than Malekith. This isn't fun anymore. I'm level 130, which is almost double what I usually have to be to beat any Dark Souls game, and I'm still getting folded like cardboard. FromSoft focused way too much on making thing hard, and forgot that difficulty is only half of what makes Dark Souls so great. It also has to be fair, and these boss fights are anything but fair.



My old review can stay right where it is, because I ended up having the exact same complaints about it this time that I did last time.

[DrLitch]

Interesting to note time played to complete is well over double that of other souls games. If you think Elden Ring's late game bosses are hard, try Lies of P's early game bosses and then imagine the scaling to late game for that one . DS2 still the game with highest level of BS for my money, the other games do not have Shrine of Amana, Frigid Outskirts, or Iron Keep

[DaHeckIzDat]

the other games do not have Shrine of Amana, Frigid Outskirts, or Iron Keep

No, they have Miquella's Haligtree, Lake of Rot, and Leyndell's Shunning Grounds.

[DrLitch]

Lake of Rot

I forgot about this area. Run a few feet, ingest preserving boluses to stop rot build up, run a few more feet, realize you have no boluses left, then die. Book it to pick up souls, die from rot before getting there because the game does not reset consumables when you die... good times!

Leyndell's Shunning Grounds.

Hansel and Gretel, got to leave those glowstones to act as a breadcrumb trail.

[Voor]

Strange. I’ve often seen Elden Ring cited as the most accessible/ best way to start the series for new players.

But I’ve also seen seasoned veterans lose their minds over the DLC…..