Everything Video Games!

[Fillip J Phry]

Made it to Crumbling Farum Azula and went just far enough to fight the dragon and get the ability to travel back. Decided to backtrack and finally advance Ranni's quest. Actually figured out what to do with Renna's Rise by mistake. Minor spoiler, but the only reason I decided to rest at an important site of grace for this quest was because I realized about that time I was packing almost 200K runes and didn't want to lose them. Glad I did, or I would have been backtracking to do that part. Her quest is now complete except for the very last part. Looks like I've now done the requirements for Dung Eater, Chaos and Ranni related endings. Can you get multiples of these, or will I need to choose one and do multiple playthroughs? I know I can remove the Chaos one if I choose and am now heading towards that whole ordeal (and Melenia).

 

[wokeupnew]

Can you get multiples of these, or will I need to choose one and do multiple playthroughs?

multiple playthroughs. Make sure you choose wisely and know certain things in the post-final boss area start certain endings. I wanted to choose the classic ending but accidentally summoned Ranni and was very disappointed it ended that way.

 

[dhodo]

Made it to Crumbling Farum Azula and went just far enough to fight the dragon and get the ability to travel back. Decided to backtrack and finally advance Ranni's quest. Actually figured out what to do with Renna's Rise by mistake. Minor spoiler, but the only reason I decided to rest at an important site of grace for this quest was because I realized about that time I was packing almost 200K runes and didn't want to lose them. Glad I did, or I would have been backtracking to do that part. Her quest is now complete except for the very last part. Looks like I've now done the requirements for Dung Eater, Chaos and Ranni related endings. Can you get multiples of these, or will I need to choose one and do multiple playthroughs? I know I can remove the Chaos one if I choose and am now heading towards that whole ordeal (and Melenia).

If you back up your save at the last site of grace before trigging the endings you can get them all in one. Just delete and reload the save. Not sure if you can get them all if you have Chaos already though.

 

[Fillip J Phry]

If you back up your save at the last site of grace before trigging the endings you can get them all in one. Just delete and reload the save. Not sure if you can get them all if you have Chaos already though.

I'm playing on Xbox so I'll have to see if there's an easy way to back up the save. If not, oh well I was planning multiple playthroughs either way. As for the Chaos, if you follow Millicent's questline you can remove the Frenzied Flame, I just don't know if I want to or not. I was hoping I could do that and Dung Eater/Ranni all at one and then other endings afterwards. Some characters are very upset after you take the flame on, but neither of them even mentioned it. Oh well, there's so much stuff in this game I want to try after this first playthrough, so more incentive to do additional playthroughs!

 

[Fillip J Phry]

multiple playthroughs. Make sure you choose wisely and know certain things in the post-final boss area start certain endings. I wanted to choose the classic ending but accidentally summoned Ranni and was very disappointed it ended that way.

I read about the Ranni one fortunately. I haven't read how to trigger Dung Eater's ending, but I think I may just go full chaos out of the gate. It's funny to me that I'll still be going to fight Melenia for the challenge of it, and then just ignore the thing that can reverse my course. I'm still running a Strength build (and nothing into Int), so it kind of makes sense for my character to just stumble into random stuff with no planning or foresight. Only crush enemies! I'm almost maxed for my main stats - 57 str and 57 vig currently, and I throw point to end and less often to dex once in a while because it still helps (still running Godrick's Axe). Now if I could just find a damn Somber Dragon Smithing Stone, my anchor is almost maxed and about to catch the axe again.

 

[dhodo]

I'm playing on Xbox so I'll have to see if there's an easy way to back up the save. If not, oh well I was planning multiple playthroughs either way. As for the Chaos, if you follow Millicent's questline you can remove the Frenzied Flame, I just don't know if I want to or not. I was hoping I could do that and Dung Eater/Ranni all at one and then other endings afterwards. Some characters are very upset after you take the flame on, but neither of them even mentioned it. Oh well, there's so much stuff in this game I want to try after this first playthrough, so more incentive to do additional playthroughs!

Sorry, what I mean is that you can definitely get the Ranni and the chaos if you delete and reload, but if you already have Chaos by the time you save at the end, it may be too late to remove it, I'm not sure. I don't think you can do the Ranni ending while you have the frenzied flame active. If you can't backup your save on the cloud, I'm sure if you are anyway near as overpowered as I was at the end you could blow through another playthrough on NG+ super fast.

 

[Fillip J Phry]

Sorry, what I mean is that you can definitely get the Ranni and the chaos if you delete and reload, but if you already have Chaos by the time you save at the end, it may be too late to remove it, I'm not sure. I don't think you can do the Ranni ending while you have the frenzied flame active. If you can't backup your save on the cloud, I'm sure if you are anyway near as overpowered as I was at the end you could blow through another playthrough on NG+ super fast.

Gotcha, that makes sense. I think I'll probably do the Chaos ending and then go for another on New Game+. I also want to try a dex build and some mage type builds with other characters. Never really messed with the magic much except for Cleric's healing in earlier games. I got Ranni's Dark Moon this morning and it sounds really cool. No idea how useful it actually is because I can't use it with this build.

I've felt overpowered from the get go. I listened to advice and explored the south at the beginning, and gained a lot of levels through just exploring and fighting most things I encounter. By the time I got to Godrick he was little challenge. The feeling just continued from there. Never rushed through anything, and just had fun exploring as much as possible, finding a warehouse worth of stuff I'll probably never use, at least with this character. I heard strength builds are good early on, but tougher in the later parts, but honestly I haven't faced anything that has got me discouraged in any way. Just comes down to learning their moves and sometimes just tanking hits to get some in myself. Melenia still scares me though, and it's coming up soon I think, I entered the Haligtree area this morning.

 

[wokeupnew]

Gotcha, that makes sense. I think I'll probably do the Chaos ending and then go for another on New Game+. I also want to try a dex build and some mage type builds with other characters. Never really messed with the magic much except for Cleric's healing in earlier games. I got Ranni's Dark Moon this morning and it sounds really cool. No idea how useful it actually is because I can't use it with this build.

I've felt overpowered from the get go. I listened to advice and explored the south at the beginning, and gained a lot of levels through just exploring and fighting most things I encounter. By the time I got to Godrick he was little challenge. The feeling just continued from there. Never rushed through anything, and just had fun exploring as much as possible, finding a warehouse worth of stuff I'll probably never use, at least with this character. I heard strength builds are good early on, but tougher in the later parts, but honestly I haven't faced anything that has got me discouraged in any way. Just comes down to learning their moves and sometimes just tanking hits to get some in myself. Melenia still scares me though, and it's coming up soon I think, I entered the Haligtree area this morning.

Magic/Incantations in Elden Ring are super interesting. It almost makes the game too easy at times, but it could be loads of fun on a NG+. Lighting Spear, Rotten Breath, Flame of Frenzy, Dragonmaw, Swarm of Flies, and Lansseax’s Lightning Glaive were my go-to's. I'd probably respec as a magic wielder before you start NG+ because you won't be able to respec again until getting to Rennala. Also if you want to cheat, try and find the Sword of Night and Flame which has two sorceries in sword form with a relatively low INT/FAI requirement.

 

[epyon415]

Gotcha, that makes sense. I think I'll probably do the Chaos ending and then go for another on New Game+. I also want to try a dex build and some mage type builds with other characters. Never really messed with the magic much except for Cleric's healing in earlier games. I got Ranni's Dark Moon this morning and it sounds really cool. No idea how useful it actually is because I can't use it with this build.

I've felt overpowered from the get go. I listened to advice and explored the south at the beginning, and gained a lot of levels through just exploring and fighting most things I encounter. By the time I got to Godrick he was little challenge. The feeling just continued from there. Never rushed through anything, and just had fun exploring as much as possible, finding a warehouse worth of stuff I'll probably never use, at least with this character. I heard strength builds are good early on, but tougher in the later parts, but honestly I haven't faced anything that has got me discouraged in any way. Just comes down to learning their moves and sometimes just tanking hits to get some in myself. Melenia still scares me though, and it's coming up soon I think, I entered the Haligtree area this morning.

Both Ranni and Rennalas moon spells are great for openers. The debuff they apply will make the rest of your spells that much more effective. As I understand it, Rennalas has higher damage, but Rannis applies frostbite build up. Typically 1 Ranni’s and 2 glintstone icecrag will trigger frostbite on almost every boss. Def worth having in spell toolset.

Zamor Ice Storm is also a good aoe spell and has decent stagger. There are a lot of builds I want to explore whenever I get to my next play through.

Enjoy your time in the Haligtree !

 

[Fillip J Phry]

Magic/Incantations in Elden Ring are super interesting. It almost makes the game too easy at times, but it could be loads of fun on a NG+. Lighting Spear, Rotten Breath, Flame of Frenzy, Dragonmaw, Swarm of Flies, and Lansseax’s Lightning Glaive were my go-to's. I'd probably respec as a magic wielder before you start NG+ because you won't be able to respec again until getting to Rennala. Also if you want to cheat, try and find the Sword of Night and Flame which has two sorceries in sword form with a relatively low INT/FAI requirement.

Had I known there were weapons that scaled with the magic based stats I probably would have started differently. I was looking through my inventory this morning and saw the Dark Moon Greatsword. Having big bonks AND magic seems right up my alley. I could respec, but I I'm too stubborn to do that. Going to see this strength build to the end.

Both Ranni and Rennalas moon spells are great for openers. The debuff they apply will make the rest of your spells that much more effective. As I understand it, Rennalas has higher damage, but Rannis applies frostbite build up. Typically 1 Ranni’s and 2 glintstone icecrag will trigger frostbite on almost every boss. Def worth having in spell toolset.

Zamor Ice Storm is also a good aoe spell and has decent stagger. There are a lot of builds I want to explore whenever I get to my next play through.

Enjoy your time in the Haligtree !

This area is a LOT of fun ! Nothing better than riding around blind and just getting bear mauled out of nowhere, or wolf riders spamming arrows and somehow always dodging everything from me. On the plus side, I cleared a dungeon this morning and fought the Wyrm, and I now have 60 Vig/59 Str. Also finally got a Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone, and got my Godrick's Axe maxed out. Maxed out the anchor too, looks like both weapons end up with very similar damage output. Anchor has more raw, but Godrick's has more scale damage, and I'm sure I could buff that even more with a few points into Dex (currently 25).

 

[wokeupnew]

Had I known there were weapons that scaled with the magic based stats I probably would have started differently. I was looking through my inventory this morning and saw the Dark Moon Greatsword. Having big bonks AND magic seems right up my alley. I could respec, but I I'm too stubborn to do that. Going to see this strength build to the end.

For your next playthrough I'd definitely recommend it.

That one sword is super fun as well. There's some footage of it in action here. It has two unique attacks, the Fire one is ridiculous since it has a huge area of effect.

 

[lonestarlahr]

Gahhhhhh!! Stoked to see that Psychonauts 2 is FINALLY getting a collector's edition release, along with 6xLP and 2xLP soundtrack releases and an art book from iam8bit.

Psychonauts 2

www.iam8bit.com

Having already bought and beat the game digitally, I might spring for the vinyl only. BUUUT those enamel pins are gorgeous (as is the art book).

 

[ayayrawn]

Reaching the limit of my patience with Elden Ring. In between Placidsuax, who gets an instant kill beam at 15% health, and Malikith who is all stun locks. Since I've reached Mountaintops, I've found the mechanics to be rapidly less fun.

 

[RenegadeMonster]

Was just watching a video on YouTube that was talking about the PS5 and rumors.

One said Rumor was that FSR 2.0 was supposed to come to the PS5 with an update later this year. We know now that this will not be happening as Microsoft paid for the Exclusive Rights for FSR 2.0 on consoles to AMD, thus preventing it from ever coming to the PS5. People doing some sleuthing found that the PS5 games have this built in, but would need to be enabled by an update.

The first 2 games that support FSR 2.0 are ironically Sony Studio games. They support it on the PC, but don't exist on the X-Box as they are PS exclusive for consoles. Microsoft has recently added FSR 2.0 support to the Series X via and update.

In other rumor news, PSVR 2 sets have been spotted in the wild. A indie game developer posted on Twitter a picture of his headset causing a stir that these might be getting a release sooner rather than later.

 

[kvetcha]

Was just watching a video on YouTube that was talking about the PS5 and rumors.

One said Rumor was that FSR 2.0 was supposed to come to the PS5 with an update later this year. We know now that this will not be happening as Microsoft paid for the Exclusive Rights for FSR 2.0 on consoles to AMD, thus preventing it from ever coming to the PS5. People doing some sleuthing found that the PS5 games have this built in, but would need to be enabled by an update.

The first 2 games that support FSR 2.0 are ironically Sony Studio games. They support it on the PC, but don't exist on the X-Box as they are PS exclusive for consoles. Microsoft has recently added FSR 2.0 support to the Series X via and update.

In other rumor news, PSVR 2 sets have been spotted in the wild. A indie game developer posted on Twitter a picture of his headset causing a stir that these might be getting a release sooner rather than later.

It's an open-source solution, Microsoft can't pay for exclusive rights. What's far more likely is that they actually worked with AMD to get it properly integrated into the Xbox dev pipeline, which is fairly closely tied with the existing DX PC pipeline, and that Sony hasn't put in the legwork yet.

 

[Diaper Baby Escape Plan]

Just finished playing the last God of War on PC. I'd never played anything from the series, as I've never owned a PS. I love all the mythology. My Norse mythology knowledge is pretty good (thanks Neil Gaiman!) so I was pretty well oriented in the world.

I really liked the growth of Atreus. One of my co-workers said he was annoying. And, yes, he becomes irritating after he discovers he is a god but that arc resolves itself quickly. I really liked the twist of finding out Atreus is Loki. And there was definitely foreshadowing that was great to look back on (e.g. Baldur's mistletoe vulnerability being exploited by Atreus and Freya's prior freaking out about his arrows and replacing them - unbeknownst to her that he had one arrowhead left from Kratos' repair of his broken quiver).

I tend to always play first run-throughs on default/normal settings. It dawns on me that a lot of games stopped using the term "easy" for the lowest difficulty and now use something like "story" mode. I guess it makes people feel better.

Anyway, the normal setting was fun but not really all that challenging. There was only a couple of areas that took me multiple tries and that was usually early on when I tried to take on enemies I wasn't ready for (e.g. realm tears) or when I was experimenting with different skills. There was definitely a time when I was using a variety of moves, not because I needed them to defeat certain enemies (with some exceptions - shield, frost enemies, etc.), but only because it was fun. The Valkyries were the only really difficult enemies (I only did 2 of the 8 and gave two others a couple tries, but never returned to them) and they weren't necessary for story progression.

Overall, great game. Beautifully rendered. Lot of care put into the story. Fighting system was diverse and allowed for a lot of variation and real-time tactical decisions. I really hope that Ragnarok is released on PC.

 

[Fillip J Phry]

Just finished playing the last God of War on PC. I'd never played anything from the series, as I've never owned a PS. I love all the mythology. My Norse mythology knowledge is pretty good (thanks Neil Gaiman!) so I was pretty well oriented in the world.

I really liked the growth of Atreus. One of my co-workers said he was annoying. And, yes, he becomes irritating after he discovers he is a god but that arc resolves itself quickly. I really liked the twist of finding out Atreus is Loki. And there was definitely foreshadowing that was great to look back on (e.g. Baldur's mistletoe vulnerability being exploited by Atreus and Freya's prior freaking out about his arrows and replacing them - unbeknownst to her that he had one arrowhead left from Kratos' repair of his broken quiver).

I tend to always play first run-throughs on default/normal settings. It dawns on me that a lot of games stopped using the term "easy" for the lowest difficulty and now use something like "story" mode. I guess it makes people feel better.

Anyway, the normal setting was fun but not really all that challenging. There was only a couple of areas that took me multiple tries and that was usually early on when I tried to take on enemies I wasn't ready for (e.g. realm tears) or when I was experimenting with different skills. There was definitely a time when I was using a variety of moves, not because I needed them to defeat certain enemies (with some exceptions - shield, frost enemies, etc.), but only because it was fun. The Valkyries were the only really difficult enemies (I only did 2 of the 8 and gave two others a couple tries, but never returned to them) and they weren't necessary for story progression.

Overall, great game. Beautifully rendered. Lot of care put into the story. Fighting system was diverse and allowed for a lot of variation and real-time tactical decisions. I really hope that Ragnarok is released on PC.

After watching some let's plays of the game, it was the exclusive title that pushed me to break down and buy a PS4. Loved the game myself. I played on the second hardest difficulty, which made the normal encounters challenging but doable, and the other fights quite challenging. The Valkyries kicked my ass to high heaven though, I think I beat the first one after too many tries and that was it.

 

[Bull Shannon]

Been picking through different Elden Ring questlines; so far I think I haven't ruined any in the process, other than when I absolutely fried Patches on our first encounter with my Comet Azur. Will probably try to complete Ranni's ending, then do a NG++ to try and sweep up the rest of the achievements.

It's nuts how easy it is to get across the map once you know where to go. I forget the number, but a friend said there were only four mandatory bosses for actually beating the game.

 

[Thackeraye]

After watching some let's plays of the game, it was the exclusive title that pushed me to break down and buy a PS4. Loved the game myself. I played on the second hardest difficulty, which made the normal encounters challenging but doable, and the other fights quite challenging. The Valkyries kicked my ass to high heaven though, I think I beat the first one after too many tries and that was it.

I’ll be replaying it when (if) I get a PS5. Loved it. The fight right at the start was one of the hardest for me, kept on getting my ass kicked!

I’m all about easy mode at the moment. Can’t be bothered with spending hours on getting past bosses and the like - I only have about 3-5 hours a week to play, so I’d rather get moving than get gud.

 

[Fillip J Phry]

Well, here we are. I've finally made it through the Haligtree area to Melenia's lair. I was starting to think I'd never find it, but then I got to the lift and recognized the area from videosI've seen. Man, the path there was fun with the absolute most sarcasm I can add to that word. Did not have a fun time in this area. I could have just ran through most, but I like to explore, and sadly most of what I found was deaths that felt cheap. I attempted Melenia once just to see what it was like (had to start working). I lost as expected, but discovered that I can stagger her attacks pretty easily, at least for first phase. I did feel like I was moving slower than normal, or at least my rolls felt slower. Is this expected?