Today is GeoffCon, which has caught me by surprise. I knew it was coming up because Ian was going to it, but I thought it was next week. It was not. He’s almost on his way now (flight delays. He was supposed to go yesterday) and will be there for the next few days. The conference itself is now, but there is a whole host of things happening outside GeoffCon itself.
Last year, this was when the official Elden Ring release trailer dropped. It was the last thing at the con and generated so. much. hype. It had been leak ahead of time, and my stomach sank with each announcement.
Side note: I realized a while ago that I don’t like video games in general. It’s how I am with pop culture–I don’t like 99% of it. It’s just uninteresting to me. I’m watching GeoffCon right now (with Oxboxtra) and am only waiting for Elden Ring DLC. No, it was not announced, but Ian suggested it and I cannot get it out of my mind. So far, there’s been an Aliens game and the game by the Dead Space creator.
I. Could. Not. Care. Less. Both are sci-fi in which I have no interest. I didn’t like Dead Space after playing maybe an hour of it. It’s just of no interest to me.
My brother and I have a long-standing joke about how he’s all sci-fi and I’m all fantasy. But he’s anti-aliens. He just like futuristic worlds–but no aliens! Which I think it odd, but he can shine on. I, on the other hand, am very much a fantasy person. I’m currently into urban fantasy, which I have been informed is a dead genre.
Anyway. Once Ian mentioned Elden Ring DLC, I could not get it out of my mind. Geoff has said that this year is going to be more about what has been already announced and less surprises, but who could blame him for closing it out with a trailer for Elden Ring DLC?
Speaking of, I’m racing through it at breakneck speed (for me) in order to get the plat. I just have to get one of the canonical bland boring normal endings (plus Elden Ring, which is getting all the trophies) in order to get it. I think it’s hilarious that I need the normal ending to get the plat because that’s the one I would usually get first.
But. I put in 200+ hours into the first playthrough. I knew of the different endings. I didn’t seek them out, but it’s nearly impossible to miss if you’re looking in the forums at all. There’s a point in the game of no return–after which you get cut off from an area. you’re told to get things done before doing a certain thing if you want to get your plat. So I did all those things. And I backed up my save. And did everything I was told I needed to do in order to get the plat in one playthrough.
It didn’t work. The backups, I mean. I made several, but none of them worked. Any time I tried to upload them, they became overwritten by where I was in the game. Which was after the point I needed to be in order to get the plat in one go. I spent hours fiddling, but I could not get it to work. I was devastated because I had worked so hard to get the plat in one go (not like me at all, but it’s such a massive game, I wanted to get it over with at the start), only to have it fail me.
Back to GeoffCon. There was a dark fantasy game, but it’s first person. Sigh. Then another sci-fi game wit horror. Boring. And another! Mike from Oxbox said sarcastically that it’s the fourth Dead Space of the evening, but he’s not wrong. There is nothing of interest for me so far. Troy Baker was nattering for interminably long. It’s so strange. When I first saw him, I thought he was hot.
Oh, wow. The Rock is on. It was leaked that he was going to be on. I was excited! But then he started talking and it was very cringe. He held up his energy drink can three times (he was in his gym) and talked about how great he was. I’m sure it was supposed to be tongue-in-cheek, but it made me think he was less hot. It was…not great.
Anyway, back to Elden Ring. I gave myself a day to mourn that I could not get the save-scumming to work. Then, I shrugged it off and gave myself the plat in my mind as I continued to play. I knew I would get it sooner or later, so it was just a matter of semantics. It felt really bad because I had thought I wasn’t going to be able to get it in one go because of a legendary weapon that the wikis said I would not be able to get because events were past, but then I did trigger the event I needed to get it and got it.
I felt better after a few days. Like I said, I was going to get it at some point so what difference did it make? I wanted to get it in one playthrough so I didn’t have to think about it again, but it’s a matter of time, really.
Now, however, I’m four bosses (and two areas) away. I did the math on summoning and I’m fine because it’s based on levels and weapons rather than which NG you’re in. I mean, it’s always been some variation of the former, but I wasn’t sure exactly how it worked. I looked it up and was reassured that it was strictly levels and how upgraded your weapon is rather than which NG you’re in.
I’m twenty levels less in this NG+ playthrough than I was at the end of the first NG playthrough. I had a fully upgraded weapon on that playthrough as well, so that didn’t make a difference. I’ve been able to find human summons quite easily during this NG+ playthrough.
I puttered around at the end of NG, painstakingly making sure I had everything in line for NG+. Then, as was my nature, I said, “Fuck all that” and jumped into NG+ halfway through.
I had one goal–to get the Elden Lord ending as quickly as possible. I could do everything else afterwards if I wanted. With that in mind, I raced through Limgrave and Stormveil Castle in a few hours. I made it to Raya Lucaria and steamrolled that as well. I had the two shardbearer souls I needed and I was ready to go the last area of the game.
That’s my little in-joke because for many, many hours in my first playthrough, I thought Leyndell Royal Capital was the last area of the game. It very much is not.
Side Note II: The Cuphead DLC looks amazing. I really wish I could play that game, but I know that I’d be pure rubbish at it.
Anyway, I got the two halves of the medallion I needed and made it to the Daedalus Lift, er the Grand Lift of Dectus. Now. This is my least-favorite area of the entire game. Even more hated than Caelid, which is an awful awful swamp of rot. In my first playthrough, I was twatted by the standard soldiers of this area on the regs. In the NG playthrough with this character, I was chopping them down in three swings of my greatsword. I sailed through the area that brought me to tears. In NG+, I’ve had a bit more trouble juking and jiving, but I got through with relative ease.
GeoffCon is showcasing anime right now. It’s fine. Not my jam, but not boring, either. You can say that much for anime–it’s not boring in the least.
Mountaintop of Giants is next. It’s a massive area. I cannot tell you how big it is. Since I was trying to mainline the main story, I ignored everything as I ran for my nemesis–the Fire Giant. He is not the hardest boss in the game by far, but he was my hardest boss. In my first playthrough, he could one-shot me, which is an enthusiasm-killer.
I had put in over 200 hours at that point. I could not be fucked to learn the Fire Giant, in part because my spatial issues made it hard to gauge where his weak points actually were. I summoned two humans and rinsed him.
For whatever reason, I decided to solo him in this NG playthrough with my Mimic Tears summon and Alexander, AKA potboi. Why? I don’t know. Because I liked summoning the NPCs as part of the story. It was so frustrating at first, but by the tenth or so try, I had the rhythm down. I cannot stress enough how having 40 Vigor and a +10 colossal sword makes such a big difference. Knowing I could take a hit or two and dish it out in return? That I could stagger someone in two hits? Yes, please.
I have long since maintained that strength was much more OP than casting, and I stand by that answer. I have found that bonking people does more damage more quickly than pelting them with spells and incantations. I will be honest. I have never gone full glass cannon faith or int character because I’m always going to mix them. I have seen videos of Comet Avur (60 Int) melting bosses, but I’ve been less than impressed with it when I’ve used it (I have 70 Int on my first character).
I will say that I bet I would do better with my first character now in NG+ because I’ve already played the game. I’ve been breezing through NG+ with my second character, barely breaking my stride. Oh, I did beat the Fire Giant in NG with this character with my Mimic Tear and Alexander, and it felt good that I actually learned his patterns. He’s not that hard–he just hits hard, has wonky camera angles, and has a massive health pool.
Oh my god. I just looked it up and he has 43,263 HP. That’s roughly 8,000 more than the final boss(es)! Holy shit. I did not realize that. I knew it was a hefty health pool, but that is just out of order.
Anyway, I have no guilt about summoning for NG+. This run is just to get the goddamn plat. Once I’m done with that, I can go back to just tootling around in the world and enjoying it.