[VlaudTheImpaler]

:Spoilers:

Finally have some time to sit down and play again. I headed in the direction of the golden bonfire wiz and veered off course a tad while wiping out all the knight jerks in the forest who attack for no reason. Found a cave full of wolves. Killed them all and looted it. Went into the golden mist at the back of it and was forced to kill Donnie from the wild Thornberries. RIP.

I don't know if I'm missing something or not but I can't figure how to level up. I'm guessing the runes are just like souls from the other games and I have to find some desperate chick that I can pay them to for her services to make me stronger.

EDIT: NVM, found her at the very next source of grace I found haha.

 

[Zefah]

Think we'll ever get that RT patch?

 

[Allnamestakenlol]

Think we'll ever get that RT patch?

Honestly? I don't think so.

Edit: @Fushitsusha I know, I know. But consider the fucked lighting in Dark Souls 2 (compared to their pre-launch vids/images) and the shit performance in BB. Their track record when it comes to all things technical leaves me feeling pessimistic.

 

[regawdless]

Think we'll ever get that RT patch?

Yes. Right after the Bloodborne performance fix on PS4.

 

[Stifler's Mom]

I haven't been able to play all day yet. The last place I got to was the area with the broken down church with a dude inside with a long necked lute who's trying to sell me stuff. That's the open area I was talking about. I mean, the area looks pretty open to me anyway. Huge beach WAY down below that I don't know if I can get to yet. But even from up here the ocean looks awesome. I was surprised the waves were actually the same fps as everything else from that far away. At least it looks that way. Most games have background animations at much lower fps.

Ah, you mean "THE GOLDEN HORSE" dude?

You must be a really good player, if you killed him and the end boss in the wolfs cave, if you haven't even leveled up yet.

 

[Dacon]

Think we'll ever get that RT patch?

If we don't it won't be till after the expansion.

 

[Soodanim]

At the tree guardian or whatever it's called right in the first open area. Why?

EDIT: I feel like killing it and seeing if I can get it's weapon... But I don't know if I'm supposed to.

With the benefit of experience and the memories of fighting him early and failing: you can, but most don't. He's more of an unspoken "You can't necessarily beat everything straight away, it's okay to run and you can see bosses anywhere because this is open world" example to learn from.

Beating him is well within reach if you learn the attack pattern and how to punish, but so early on you don't have a high number of flasks yet and that's really what will hold you back. I went back later and cleaned up, and even getting a few weapon upgrades helps a lot.

Advice out of that boss: Explore as long as you're not bored, the rewards are everywhere. When you're bored of that, follow the directions from the bonfires. Sorry, the Guidance of Grace.

 

[VlaudTheImpaler]

Ah, you mean "THE GOLDEN HORSE" dude?

You must be a really good player, if you killed him and the end boss in the wolfs cave, if you haven't even leveled up yet.

I hope Donnie Thornberry wasn't an endboss...

With the benefit of experience and the memories of fighting him early and failing: you can, but most don't. He's more of an unspoken "You can't necessarily beat everything straight away, it's okay to run and you can see bosses anywhere because this is open world" example to learn from.

Beating him is well within reach if you learn the attack pattern and how to punish, but so early on you don't have a high number of flasks yet and that's really what will hold you back. I went back later and cleaned up, and even getting a few weapon upgrades helps a lot.

Advice out of that boss: Explore as long as you're not bored, the rewards are everywhere. When you're bored of that, follow the directions from the bonfires. Sorry, the Guidance of Grace.

It's not that I couldn't kill him, it's just that I thought he seemed important. I mean his name is the tree guardian. I was thinking it meant that giant golden tree that looks like it's... good? So I went to talk to him and he killed me. Then I came back and fought him thinking maybe it was one of those things where you need to take his health down a bit before he talks to you but a bit more than halfway through his health bar and still nooooo. One track mind. So I let him kill me and I just went on. I figured he might see everything as a threat to the tree or something.

:Spoilers:

Anyway, I cleared out a knight encampment and checked the front of one of the giant friggin wagons because it looked like a spearman was guarding it. Found a greatsword and replaced my axe with it. There was a flail in the other wagon but I don't have the dex for that. Also found a cellar with an ash of war and a whetstone knife. Probably just gonna store up materials for now and wait for later, till I find a weapon I like or whenever I hit a wall and then sit down and feel out the crafting/upgrading system. I do wonder how scarce upgrading resources are or if you can really screw yourself like you could in previous souls games if you didn't plan everything right.

Then I went through a gate and under a bridge/fallen ruin and got jumped by a grumpy half naked giant with MAJOR bunions. All while getting pelted by crossbowmen who must have had their bolts replaced with tough nerf darts. They didn't hurt too much but were still annoying. Didn't die but that was a pretty tense moment. Made my way up the hill and now I'm on a plateau that some god must think is a birthday candle. Followed the path and got jumped by a pack of wolves. I'm beginning to see a pattern here haha. Found a source of grace and rested then went into the house nearby. Met a chick that's totally bonkers talking about people getting chopped up and attached to a freaking spider... and that she wants to do it as well... but she's too afraid?! Like that's a bad thing? What the frick! She gave me a jellyfish to summon after that but I still think she's a freak.

Now, after remembering I can use the horse and clearing out all the cement caterpillars, I found the giant again on top of the ruins and am trying to decide if I want to see if I could get his weapon. Or if he'll drop anything at all. He didn't have a boss health bar so I'm guessing he's just gonna be a normal enemy type? Anyway, I'm not really asking for advice, I like figuring things out for myself and I don't like getting spoiled, I'm just sharing my experience. Especially since I'm going blind for my first time.

 

[regawdless]

I hope Donnie Thornberry wasn't an endboss...

It's not that I couldn't kill him, it's just that I thought he seemed important. I mean his name is the tree guardian. I was thinking it meant that giant golden tree that looks like it's... good? So I went to talk to him and he killed me. Then I came back and fought him thinking maybe it was one of those things where you need to take his health down a bit before he talks to you but a bit more than halfway through his health bar and still nooooo. One track mind. So I let him kill me and I just went on. I figured he might see everything as a threat to the tree or something.

:Spoilers:

Anyway, I cleared out a knight encampment and checked the front of one of the giant friggin wagons because it looked like a spearman was guarding it. Found a greatsword and replaced my axe with it. There was a flail in the other wagon but I don't have the dex for that. Also found a cellar with an ash of war and a whetstone knife. Probably just gonna store up materials for now and wait for later, till I find a weapon I like or whenever I hit a wall and then sit down and feel out the crafting/upgrading system. I do wonder how scarce upgrading resources are or if you can really screw yourself like you could in previous souls games if you didn't plan everything right.

Then I went through a gate and under a bridge/fallen ruin and got jumped by a grumpy half naked giant with MAJOR bunions. All while getting pelted by crossbowmen who must have had their bolts replaced with tough nerf darts. They didn't hurt too much but were still annoying. Didn't die but that was a pretty tense moment. Made my way up the hill and now I'm on a plateau that some god must think is a birthday candle. Followed the path and got jumped by a pack of wolves. I'm beginning to see a pattern here haha. Found a source of grace and rested then went into the house nearby. Met a chick that's totally bonkers talking about people getting chopped up and attached to a freaking spider... and that she wants to do it as well... but she's too afraid?! Like that's a bad thing? What the frick! She gave me a jellyfish to summon after that but I still think she's a freak.

Now, after remembering I can use the horse and clearing out all the cement caterpillars, I found the giant again on top of the ruins and am trying to decide if I want to see if I could get his weapon. Or if he'll drop anything at all. He didn't have a boss health bar so I'm guessing he's just gonna be a normal enemy type? Anyway, I'm not really asking for advice, I like figuring things out for myself and I don't like getting spoiled, I'm just sharing my experience. Especially since I'm going blind for my first time.

You have the right approach and mind set. The game is FULL of things to discover, some easy to see, some totally cryptic shit. Don't be disappointed if you miss stuff, it's impossible to see everything on the first playthrough and some things are pretty random. Which for me, made the game really great because the sense of discovery and reward are unique and make the things you do and find meaningful.

That said, I wish I found a certain movement ability earlier, because it changed the way I played and made the game much more enjoyable. It's so easy to miss and many players never find it.

 

[VlaudTheImpaler]

Ugh, I know there's probably some resource I need there but I can't find it within me to kill these turtles...

 

[Rock And Roll]

You have the right approach and mind set. The game is FULL of things to discover, some easy to see, some totally cryptic shit. Don't be disappointed if you miss stuff, it's impossible to see everything on the first playthrough and some things are pretty random. Which for me, made the game really great because the sense of discovery and reward are unique and make the things you do and find meaningful.

That said, I wish I found a certain movement ability earlier, because it changed the way I played and made the game much more enjoyable. It's so easy to miss and many players never find it.

Do tell. Spoiler if you must. I'm exploring a lot but if it's easy to miss and it makes the game better, I'd rather just know through being told than miss it entirely.

 

[regawdless]

Do tell. Spoiler if you must. I'm exploring a lot but if it's easy to miss and it makes the game better, I'd rather just know through being told than miss it entirely.

It's called Bloodhounds Step.

Spoiler: And it

gives you the ability to slide by using some FP per slide. I combined it with an item that gives me FP per kill. You have to kill a specific enemy that only appears at night at one bridge in one area. Google Bloodhounds Step Elden Ring for all the info.

But look at this cool shit.

 

[Stifler's Mom]

It's called Bloodhounds Step.

Spoiler: And it

gives you the ability to slide by using some FP per slide. I combined it with an item that gives me FP per kill. You have to kill a specific enemy that only appears at night at one bridge in one area. Google Bloodhounds Step Elden Ring for all the info.

But look at this cool shit.

LOL, that's like fucking VANQUISH SOULS...

I want that.

 

[Rock And Roll]

It's called Bloodhounds Step.

Spoiler: And it

gives you the ability to slide by using some FP per slide. I combined it with an item that gives me FP per kill. You have to kill a specific enemy that only appears at night at one bridge in one area. Google Bloodhounds Step Elden Ring for all the info.

But look at this cool shit.

Sweet, thats going to help a lot with my samurai. I'm actually already set up to do this, as I did the quest with D and went to that area, just haven't explored it. There's that big scary dude out front.

 

[teezzy]

When ER released, my working colleagues knew about and wanted to buy it, but what surprised me was, that they didn't know this was a game from the same company that had created Dark Souls, which they also kind of knew about.

Always fascinating to see which games break the mold into the more casual crowd.

Kinda like when all my Xbox 360/CoD obsessed friends were suddenly playing Skyrim in 2011

 

[Soodanim]

Made a new character last night, and like all good ideas it's super easy to set up. The goal was simple: Great Axe. From the first roaming caravan. Nothing but strength and vigor. What was even better was when I came across Ground Slam and decided to run that as the L2, as I had never tried it before.

Playing this build with very little care in the world has honestly been a breath of fresh air. No challenge to set anything up, and just using a few things you find in the starting areas to take on Margit really showed me how much they lay it out for you if you decide to go strength. Great Axe freely available, Axe talisman for charged attacks in Mistwood, Ground Slam also there, Strength physick tear on the way to Stormveil. All of this stuff stacks up VERY well for the Margit fight.

Speaking of Margit, it's so weird for me to say this after 860+ hours, but I finally get Margit. All it took was medium range, and I so used to being on top of him that it kept me in the danger zone. At medium, he comes to you and leaves openings. So when you combine that with Great Axe charged R2s and Ground Slam's poise damage, it's so easy to stance break him. Really this is no surprise to me, but my first experience with this was Colossal Weapons and how they break everything's stance easily. But usually they're very heavy requirement weapons, whereas this is a beginner weapon. Even quicker to get than Bloodhound Fang.

After Godrick I pumped dex to use his axe (another one I haven't used before), and although it's got nice flashy R2s it's not half as effective as the GA and the L2 leaves you far too open. Catches NPC enemies but that's about it. I'll respec back into full strength and go back to the GA.

 

[Rock And Roll]

I got Bloodhounds Step. The recommended strats were to camp on a tree and pummel him with arrows/magic, but I tried it for a bit and it was taking way too long. The other recommended strat was to lure him up a hill with poison traps and let him slowly die, but that was taking too long also. So I decided to lure him around the edge of the bridge then jump across the gap back onto the bridge and see if I could make him fall. The dummy took the bait and fell to his death. Easiest boss fight ever.

Went back into Storm veil castle around level 30ish and pretty much bashed my way through. I beat Godrick on my third try surprisingly, so I think I'm a bit over leveled at this point. Margitt took me at least 10 attempts so I was probably under leveled for that and over leveled for Godrick.

Random questions that I could google but discussion is better. Spoilers just in case.

---

Spoiler

In the giant courtyard with all the enemies/flamethrower etc...there's a room to your left that takes you to a lower level. There's a fog door that needs a key to open. I didn't have one on me, is it worth going back for it?

The other thing, what was up with that painting? I expected it to take me somewhere like in Dark Souls. I'm guessing there's more paintings to be found. Is it worth seeking them out?

 

[Dreamlord]

I got Bloodhounds Step. The recommended strats were to camp on a tree and pummel him with arrows/magic, but I tried it for a bit and it was taking way too long. The other recommended strat was to lure him up a hill with poison traps and let him slowly die, but that was taking too long also. So I decided to lure him around the edge of the bridge then jump across the gap back onto the bridge and see if I could make him fall. The dummy took the bait and fell to his death. Easiest boss fight ever.

Went back into Storm veil castle around level 30ish and pretty much bashed my way through. I beat Godrick on my third try surprisingly, so I think I'm a bit over leveled at this point. Margitt took me at least 10 attempts so I was probably under leveled for that and over leveled for Godrick.

Random questions that I could google but discussion is better. Spoilers just in case.

---

Spoiler

In the giant courtyard with all the enemies/flamethrower etc...there's a room to your left that takes you to a lower level. There's a fog door that needs a key to open. I didn't have one on me, is it worth going back for it?

The other thing, what was up with that painting? I expected it to take me somewhere like in Dark Souls. I'm guessing there's more paintings to be found. Is it worth seeking them out?

Regarding your second question


There are quite a few paintings to find. They all depict actual locations in the game world. The challenge is to find the location where the painting was drawn and find a secret in that area.

 

[Soodanim]

I got Bloodhounds Step. The recommended strats were to camp on a tree and pummel him with arrows/magic, but I tried it for a bit and it was taking way too long. The other recommended strat was to lure him up a hill with poison traps and let him slowly die, but that was taking too long also. So I decided to lure him around the edge of the bridge then jump across the gap back onto the bridge and see if I could make him fall. The dummy took the bait and fell to his death. Easiest boss fight ever.

Went back into Storm veil castle around level 30ish and pretty much bashed my way through. I beat Godrick on my third try surprisingly, so I think I'm a bit over leveled at this point. Margitt took me at least 10 attempts so I was probably under leveled for that and over leveled for Godrick.

Random questions that I could google but discussion is better. Spoilers just in case.

---

Spoiler

In the giant courtyard with all the enemies/flamethrower etc...there's a room to your left that takes you to a lower level. There's a fog door that needs a key to open. I didn't have one on me, is it worth going back for it?

The other thing, what was up with that painting? I expected it to take me somewhere like in Dark Souls. I'm guessing there's more paintings to be found. Is it worth seeking them out?

Margit is more difficult than Godrick, so your experience sounds about right. Godrick can catch you with some heavy damage, but Margit will happily catch you with strong delayed attacks or fast combos.

Locked room: Black Flame spell book and something to cast them with. Black flame incantations differ from normal flame by doing damage over time, and if you're putting into faith are worth having

There's also another locked room that you may or may not have found. It contains (among other things) a Whetblade, which is always worth having because it unlocks different weapon scaling

 

[Stifler's Mom]

God, I hate those nasty little kobold fuckers in the catacombs so much.

add/edit: They feel so overpowered compared to a lot of other creatures you meet in Limgrave... very fast, create a lot of damage, crazy reach with them spamming 4 attacks in order and advancing, surprise attacks by jumping off the walls, plus ganging up on you like its downtown Bogota. Yet they look like you could one shot them with your +0 starter weapon.

 

[regawdless]

God, I hate those nasty little kobold fuckers in the catacombs so much.

add/edit: They feel so overpowered compared to a lot of other creatures you meet in Limgrave... very fast, create a lot of damage, crazy reach with them spamming 4 attacks in order and advancing, surprise attacks by jumping off the walls, plus ganging up on you like its downtown Bogota. Yet they look like you could one shot them with your +0 starter weapon.

Aside from strike weapons (hammers, morning stars etc.), I recommend using the Crystal Darts. Three hits make the Imps go nuts, attacking the nearest character/enemy. Can be pretty useful at times.

 

[Soodanim]

God, I hate those nasty little kobold fuckers in the catacombs so much.

add/edit: They feel so overpowered compared to a lot of other creatures you meet in Limgrave... very fast, create a lot of damage, crazy reach with them spamming 4 attacks in order and advancing, surprise attacks by jumping off the walls, plus ganging up on you like its downtown Bogota. Yet they look like you could one shot them with your +0 starter weapon.

They are such annoying little cunts, and if you don't use a shield and make good use of Guard Counters they're a massive pain. I'd rather fight most bosses than 3 of them.

I'd take regawd's advice, and don't think it was spoiled in any way because the game never tells you. It gives one piece of text that looks like nothing more than back story, not even a hint. Crystal Darts are great, even better once you are able to craft them. Until then, I recommend a shield

 

[miona's shoulder monkey]

God, I hate those nasty little kobold fuckers in the catacombs so much.

Guard counter* is especially amazing for these types of enemies. Do you use it much so far? It staggers them easily.

*Heavy attack after being hit while blocking.

 

[Stifler's Mom]

Guard counter* is especially amazing for these types of enemies. Do you use it much so far? It staggers them easily.

*Heavy attack after being hit while blocking.

Aren't you susceptible to attacks from the other little ugly fuckers while you do the guard counter?

 

[Soodanim]

Aren't you susceptible to attacks from the other little ugly fuckers while you do the guard counter?

Yeah, but if there's enough of them for that to be much of a problem you're probably buggered either way

 

[Rock And Roll]

Just finished clearing out my favorite location thus far. It was in Lurnia, I found some building being guarded by a giant fire dude. Snuck in behind him and took an elevator down to an ant colony. Further in was some ancient city with an ice dragon boss. So cool and the design was great. I hope to find more locations like this as the game progresses.

After that, I headed further into the lakes and took a warp to the front of the castle. I found a map which told me where to go looking for the glintstone key. Only problem is unless I'm missing something you can't really zoom in on it. You can make it a bit bigger by examining it, but I still really can't see shit. I'll go wander around for a bit and see if I can find it for myself, if not I'll just cheat and google it.

 

[Rock And Roll]

Found the key last night, I had a couple suspicions based on the map and I found it pretty easy. It really was drawn out pretty literally in terms of location. Anyway I rode up and saw that huge dragon and figured it had to be there. I snuck around him and took the key but then decided what the hell, let's try to fight him. I got him down to a sliver of health then he flew up directly above me and used that fire attack which caused me to die instantly. I was not pleased.

Went back to fight him again and got him down to a sliver, then he jumped up into some building and literally vanished. He pushed himself out of bounds I guess? Anyway I was muttering to myself about how pissed I was going to be if he respawned with full health and then I'd come in this thread and tell you all to stop blowing From Soft for more glitchy broken dogshit but thankfully, I rode back to him and one shotted him before he could react. I think I'll head into the academy tonight for a bit, but there's still a few areas I wouldn't mind exploring first. I'll probably do what I did with stormveil and jump back & forth between there and other spots.

 

[Soodanim]

Found the key last night, I had a couple suspicions based on the map and I found it pretty easy. It really was drawn out pretty literally in terms of location. Anyway I rode up and saw that huge dragon and figured it had to be there. I snuck around him and took the key but then decided what the hell, let's try to fight him. I got him down to a sliver of health then he flew up directly above me and used that fire attack which caused me to die instantly. I was not pleased.

Went back to fight him again and got him down to a sliver, then he jumped up into some building and literally vanished. He pushed himself out of bounds I guess? Anyway I was muttering to myself about how pissed I was going to be if he respawned with full health and then I'd come in this thread and tell you all to stop blowing From Soft for more glitchy broken dogshit but thankfully, I rode back to him and one shotted him before he could react. I think I'll head into the academy tonight for a bit, but there's still a few areas I wouldn't mind exploring first. I'll probably do what I did with stormveil and jump back & forth between there and other spots.

I think that's one area where Elden Ring being open world works in its favour. You really can decide to go off and do something completely different for a while, there's nothing locking you into finishing something you started. It makes for some interesting challenge videos, where people have to use that to their advantage and pick bosses they can viably take on with whatever restrictions they've chosen.

 

[Black Chamber]

I wish FromSoftware would hurry up with the ray tracing patch - I'd love to dive into this masterpiece properly

 

[HariSeldon]

I wish FromSoftware would hurry up with the ray tracing patch - I'd love to dive into this masterpiece properly

You know it's not going to happen right? Seriously, dive in, play it, it's fucking magnificent.

 

[regawdless]

I wish FromSoftware would hurry up with the ray tracing patch - I'd love to dive into this masterpiece properly

 

[Black Chamber]

I added the "Souls-like" tag to the OT.

Pretty cool to have that option now

 

[DonDonDonPata]

my PS4 is fried-chicken, so I'm getting a PS5 soon. Elden Ring at 60fps (and a Sekiro replay at 60fps) will be two of my first games

I am going in almost-totally blind. I've seen some clips here and there, but nothing spoilery. Not gonna look up builds, exploits, or early advantages. Thinking I'll go with the classic Souls "Paladain"-style build: melee + shield, healing, and a branch of magic/faith.

Maybe it has been said already: but is Elden Ring the sort of game where I'll make one character and stick with it forever, unlocking more stuff and eventually having one Supercharacter on that save file (Minecraft, Monster Hunter, Skyrim, and Breath of the Wild come to mind)? Or is it a game that I might wanna replay once or twice? Since I haven't kept up on this game, I haven't kept up on how the community views the game months after the initial release.

 

[regawdless]

my PS4 is fried-chicken, so I'm getting a PS5 soon. Elden Ring at 60fps (and a Sekiro replay at 60fps) will be two of my first games

I am going in almost-totally blind. I've seen some clips here and there, but nothing spoilery. Not gonna look up builds, exploits, or early advantages. Thinking I'll go with the classic Souls "Paladain"-style build: melee + shield, healing, and a branch of magic/faith.

Maybe it has been said already: but is Elden Ring the sort of game where I'll make one character and stick with it forever, unlocking more stuff and eventually having one Supercharacter on that save file (Minecraft, Skyrim, and Breath of the Wild come to mind)? Or is it a game that I might wanna replay once or twice? Since I haven't kept up on this game, I haven't kept up on how the community views the game months after the initial release.

You can respec your character, so playing around on one save file is fun. I found the first playthrough to be magical because of the sense of discovery, my second playthrough to complete side missions that I missed was not that great for me because I've already seen most of it and the magic was lost. Still solid and fun because of the gameplay, but getting the most of the first playthrough and exploring everything was amazing, can't replicate that.

 

[DonDonDonPata]

You can respec your character, so playing around on one save file is fun. I found the first playthrough to be magical because of the sense of discovery, my second playthrough to complete side missions that I missed was not that great for me because I've already seen most of it and the magic was lost. Still solid and fun because of the gameplay, but getting the most of the first playthrough and exploring everything was amazing, can't replicate that.

fair enough, I didn't realize you could re-spec. So you're still constrained to a "build" (more or less) with specific weapons, armor, skills, etc that you're trying to min/max, but changing that build and playing around with different builds doesn't require a new character + save. Something more along the lines of Monster Hunter (in openness, not mission structure)

 

[regawdless]

fair enough, I didn't realize you could re-spec. So you're still constrained to a "build" (more or less) with specific weapons, armor, skills, etc that you're trying to min/max, but changing that build and playing around with different builds doesn't require a new character + save. Something more along the lines of Monster Hunter (in openness, not mission structure)

You can't respec all the time, you need a specific rather rare item for it and you have to unlock the NPC who can do it. So it's not available from the start and you can't do it all the time, but it makes experimenting possible at least.

Regarding build, you find a ton of items that you can use and change, that can have big impacts on your build. You can infuse weapons with certain effects and change it as often as you want, for example going for Bleed, Strength, Fire etc. You have to plan on what weapons you want to upgrade because the materials can be rare and you get the ability to purchase the materials later than you'll find them in the wild.

Planning ahead and having a vision for your build is definitely recommended, but the system is flexible enough for you to adjust your build.

 

[Zefah]

edit: oops! wrong thread.

 

[HariSeldon]

Finally seem to have gotten the crashing issues sorted and things are stable now. No idea what was causing it, but I suspect there were some shader compilation issues.

I'm still at the beginning. Got sorted into House Ravenclaw and am just poking around the area. Spent a bunch of time trying to find the optimal performance settings and now have it set with everything at Ultra at 1440p and DLSS Quality enabled.

I messed around with the ray tracing effects, but I am not impressed at all with the implementation in this game. The AO in this game is honestly kind of bad, so I wanted to at least enable RT for that, but I didn't notice much of an improvement if any. There are still weird light gaps between objects and when the AO darkened area begins and you still can see AO sort of "drawing in" especially at the edges of the screen when you spin around the camera. The RT reflections are hideously low resolution and I honestly think they make the came look worse. Shadows, too, while probably a bit more realistic with how they diffuse, don't really make the game look much better to me, considering the art style. Overall, it's not worth losing basically 50 ~ 60% of your framerate for a very marginal improvement at best.

I think you might be in the wrong thread.

 

[Zefah]

I think you might be in the wrong thread.

Sure am! Oops...

 

[DonDonDonPata]

You can't respec all the time, you need a specific rather rare item for it and you have to unlock the NPC who can do it. So it's not available from the start and you can't do it all the time, but it makes experimenting possible at least.

Regarding build, you find a ton of items that you can use and change, that can have big impacts on your build. You can infuse weapons with certain effects and change it as often as you want, for example going for Bleed, Strength, Fire etc. You have to plan on what weapons you want to upgrade because the materials can be rare and you get the ability to purchase the materials later than you'll find them in the wild.

Planning ahead and having a vision for your build is definitely recommended, but the system is flexible enough for you to adjust your build.

this is good to know. Thanks for going into detail, I'm sure that I'll do my usual multiple-NG+ on the same character routine, and then down the road I can decide if a fresh build will open up new builds that i wanna play with.