Ok so I have big news to share. I finally beat Maliketh today and yes, I had to use the "Flame of the Redmanes" ash. It worked like a charm.

Now I'm in the Lyendel Ashen capital and much to my surprise I defeated the All-Knowing Tarnished leader on my first try!

Congrats on your victory Panzer.

It's sort of funny reading these posts when you haven't played the game for some reason, like a parody of the nerdy gamer. But I'd be right there with ya if I played it. And I might just do. When it next goes on sale I might take a shot at it. You two seem to like it.

This is hands down the game of the year for me and the best fantasy RPG I've ever played. The only caveat I would include is that you WILL die a lot playing this game so if you are the type of gamer who gets easily frustrated and flustered by dying a lot then I don't recommend the game.

And there's the rub. I probably wouldn't like that, a game of trial and error since most of how I approach games is just to let it ride and the chips fall where they may. Being forced to repeat the same thing over and over is not so appealing for me, but this doesn't rule the whole experience out either. That's why if I do get it, it will be on sale haha.

Some of the "bosses" you can encounter in the game are optional which means you don't have to defeat them in order to progress the story but there are several tough bosses that are required for you to defeat in order to progress. This is why I was stuck on Maliketh for a long time. I spent my time farming runes so I could level up my character even more so I would have a better chance of defeating him.

But besides the bosses, there are many of the non-boss enemies that you will encounter in the game that can easily kill you if you are not prepared and/or careless.

And maybe I'd actually take to it. I do enjoy being challenged and the satisfaction of overcoming it. I like games that require skill and reward it.

It's on the wishlist and has been for some time. I don't feel compelled and I haven't ruled it out. It's a fence-sitter and a good sale will probably tempt me to at least try it. At worst it ends up on the pile of games that I've bought and rejected.

My track record is really good, it is very rare I spend money on a game that I ultimately don't care for. I think I have a good handle on what I like and what I do not and apply that to prospective purchases and mostly avoid those which are not for me.

Elden Ring through straddles that line. The game looks epic, the world is amazing, the fantasy and lore seem robust. I love RPGs and all that entails. I like agonizing over this weapon versus that, over this enchantment versus another, the opportunity cost, ya know?

But it is third person, and there's the whole trial and error aspect to progression that does not appeal, and then there's the difficulty in itself.

Your opinion Panzer carries weight for me, I've been reading your posts for pert near 20 years now. Frank too, and I know the man must be selective in how he spends his gaming time, while I'm free to go all willy-nilly. So if Frank devoted the time to actually finish such a game (how many hours?) then it says to me the game is quite good indeed. Nimrud did all of this under the radar too and he doesn't seem to have it on Steam, so I knew nothing about it!

Thanks for the compliment DBond! If Frank doesn't have ER on Steam then he must be playing the console version. I'm pretty sure the PC version is exclusively on Steam.

As for buying games that didn't turn out to be worth it, my most recent one was Steel Division 2. I'm a huge fan of the military history so I think it was really the game mechanics that just failed to draw me in.

Congrats PanzerMeyer, good job!

And with Sir Gideon also down the end of your long and eventful journey is in sight finally!

There are several endings to the game and if you want to see them all during one run you have to fiddle with some files directly after your last victory.

Derek, I play more and more on the PS5 nowadays. But I will definitely get Elden Ring on Steam in the near future just because of the fantastic modding scene with those titles. That game will get more and more stuff in the upcoming years apart from some official DLC.

When you get Elden Ring and you don´t have much experience with these kind of games, just have a look at some of the walkthroughs for a start. I posted a link on the first page to one where you just go through the first 4 episodes and with the equipment you get without much of a fight, the experience will be so much better without any major spoilers.

Thank you sir! I did do some research on Sir Gideon before I fought him and found out he's a heavy magic user so I was glad I had the +2 spelldrake talisman to lower the damage incurred from magic. I'm pretty sure that helped me significantly.

Yeah, I knew that Frank but had not considered it straight away. Ain't no Steam on Playstation.

I forgot to post this earlier so I'll post it now. I finally defeated Radagon/Elden Beast about a week ago to finish the main storyline but I'm still playing the game since I haven't beaten all of the optional bosses yet.

And here is a hilarious meme that I'm sure all ER players can relate to:

Congrats making it to the end of the game and beating the final boss, PanzerMeyer!

Good feeling seeing the credits in this game, isn´t it?! Feels special.

Started a NG+ with my main character but stopped playing after seeing how ridiculously easy the game was becoming with that kind of an overleveled character in the starting areas.

Basically just sat down and watched my mimic destroy Margit and Godfrey by himself.

Oh most definitely and I also actually yelled out "YES!" when I defeated Elden Beast. I have not had that kind of reaction to winning a game in a very long time.

So it's a new era for me. After playing ER regularly since April (about 556 hours put into it) I finally uninstalled it after finishing pretty much everything I encountered. This is BY FAR my "game of the year" for 2022.

Fired this up for the first time last night. So much dying. Definitely lived up (or down in this case?) to my name. I may or may not have gone the right way off the bat, or maybe it was the right way but with too little exploring to level up my gear and character.

What level is your character and what type of build are you using? I actually reinstalled the game a couple weeks ago because there are a few more achievements I want to get.

Went with a Samurai to start with. Only played a few hours so I think I'm around level 20. I did the tutorial and after entering the world proper just beelined up the road to Gatefront. Went through there and skedaddled through that pass with all the guards and some kinda large troll thing. That brought me to Castlefront where I somehow fought through a bunch of barricades and a ballista. That ended with Margit the Fell Omen pretty much showing me I shouldn't be there yet, again, and again, and again and again.
So I found a path that went north from the Castlewind tunnel over a broken bridge and up a ledge. I don't know where I ended up but there were giant wolves everywhere, lighting strikes and giants. I just ported back to the start and figured I'd farm them a bit and try a different direction.

I also couldn't figure out how to two hand my sword. I either have a bow out or a terrible shield.I had to look it up at the end of the night. I somehow either missed it during the tutorial or totally forgot about it upon leaving.

LOL! I also started as a Samurai and I also prematurely met Margit and got my butt kicked quickly. I didn't go back to Margit until I was around level 60. I'm now level 245.

There's also that huge Tree Sentinel near the starting point of the game that you have to avoid until you are about level 50 or so.

Turns out I was only lvl 17 when I quit last night. The place I stumbled upon avoiding the pathway to Margit was the Lake Facing Cliffs.

I went and farmed around the gatefront a bit, this time actually fighting them for practice rather than the ol backstab routine. Actually managed to kill the leader guy there a few times. He always crushed me last night so the payback was nice.

Started feeling bad for those guys so I went to some caves. First one had some wolves and the Beastman of Ferum Azula. It seemed easy, but those chain attacks of his just kept stun locking me when I made a mistake. So I went to another cave farther west. This had these little guys that would poison me and I got to a pathway of fire that I couldn't quite pass through. So, I went back to the gatefront ruins and took my frustrations down on them....again. Used that cash to level up a bit, upgrade my weapon and buy some wolves I can summon. Went back to the Beastman and found I didn't know how or couldn't summon those guys and got crushed. So I tried again without bothering to try to summon and got him to about halfway. Not great, but I think I can take him with a bit more.

So I went east of the Gatefront ruins. Found a couple giants pulling a wagon and thought to myself, "I ain't a toll collector" and let them pass. Then a procession of zombie guys went parading by and I thought to myself, "maybe I should be a toll collector". They didn't pay so I killed them. Found a lake with a giant crab I thought best to avoid. As I was heading back the way I came I ran into that giant wagon and thought it wouldn't be fair if I just let them pass. So I donned the roll of toll collector and killed them. BTW my toll collector supervisor isn't happy with my performance, I may lose this job, but I think they're scared of me now. Turns out those giants were worth around a thousand of whatever the currency is. The wagon had an axe in it to boot. Also found, or rather heard some invisible guy. Not sure what to do with him yet.

Spent my points to level up a couple more times and called it a night. Up to 22 now. Tomorrow the Beastman dies...probably.