Elden Ring

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https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1907085869669912632

Ironeye looks like he'll be a REALLY fun build. Excellent that they've made it possible to do Criticals with a Bow (at least for him, since I dunno if that was possible for anyone else, at least in the CNT and it seems like that might just be his passive or something that boosts his abilities with bows in general like how Guardian has some better movement with Shields).

His slide/wall-running seems like it's gonna be his Skill, and is a really good option for him to make space, or slip to the back of an opponent so that ranged attacks are better – which means he's potentially a bit of an unexpectedly good character for staggering & crits. His Ultimate has the range, and the slight delay to the line AoE around the shot will be interesting to see how that works in practice. The fact that both the initial hit AND the shockwave have a pushing knockback effect are really good for him, and something where I'm rather curious how that damage interacts with downed teammates, since it seems like it'd be a handy tool to push back opponents and allow your third player to more easily revive a downed teammate.


SUPER excited to have this ramping up the character stuff and building up towards release at the end of next month.

EDIT: Looks like his skills are different than expected: Passive is better drops, Skill is Creating a marked Weak Point.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1907811029821890830

It seems like he's set up with a niche for people who're intent on making runs REALLY focused around speed & efficiency, and given that his drops are a passive I'm now wildly curious how that passive stacks if you're running a 3-man Ironeye team. The Skill seems like with Wylder they'd be able to multi-stagger bosses REALLY effectively. Guardian just fits well with anyone as a tank. While Duchess's rewind damage can stagger break, it can't re-trigger a critical hit, so she's one that's sort of in a middle ground. While Recluse doesn't have the spacing or weapons to easily take advantage of staggers to Crit, staggering can instead set up for hitting a target with those BIG spells or Magic Cocktails that have a significant wind-up, are harder to track targets with, and/or lack super armor to pull off.

His Ultimate "pierces any defense" and I'm not really sure what that means in context of how the combat system works aside from meaning that it'd be good for guard-breaking enemies with shields – which feels like it might be a little bit niche. That being said, it makes me wonder just how high that damage burst from it is gonna be since it's got what seems like solid range and AoE to it.

Additionally:

The Switch 2 announced Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition

Aside from including the main game & SotE together – there're apparently 4 new armor sets, and new weapons (like the Matador-looking one shown), some new weapons, as well as the ability to customize a few different looks for Torrent (The trailer one seems to be all Carian Knight themed). Apparently that's also going to be available as content for other platforms as well when this is released, so QUITE curious to see how they integrate that new stuff, and if it's linked into any new NPCs or sidequests, which of the maps its in, etc.

Either way, it means more new lore descriptions as well, which is always a good time for me.




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[Cthulhu]

I'm just... whelmed by both Nightreign and Bloodborne 2 whatever it's called, I can't say I feel anything about either of them . Mind you that's also because they're both primarily multiplayer titles by the sound of it.

 

[Wol]

I would play The Duskbloods if it released on other platforms, really like the setting and characters.

 

[X-SOLDIER]

I'm just... whelmed by both Nightreign and Bloodborne 2 whatever it's called, I can't say I feel anything about either of them . Mind you that's also because they're both primarily multiplayer titles by the sound of it.

I would play The Duskbloods if it released on other platforms, really like the setting and characters.

Insofar as The Duskbloods, it's the PvPvE that seems like it'll give that game a lot of variety given that it's rooted in the variety of roles & relationships that all of the players have with one another being heavily variable, but it's also what makes me a lot less inclined to go through the trouble of getting a Switch 2 just for that since the PvP stuff is what I like least about the Souls-type games, and I can't just give it a go without committing to a new system which I will almost be guaranteed to barely ever use.

It's an AWESOME setting and that's what makes it a bit frustrating, but that's also true of Bloodborne being a PlayStation-exclusive – but the advantage with Bloodborne is that it's still single-player viable, so that your ability to experience the game itself isn't just limited to being around when the community & servers are running (and who knows what that sort of future preservation looks like with Nintendo).

With Nightreign, it's only PvE – which is my favourite part of the Souls-type games, and even when the multiplayer servers and things die – You can still do it as single-player, but the challenge of that is a LOT larger than doing it in the 3-man multiplayer the way that it's designed. It's basically just like FFXV Comrades in that respect (though I don't know if they'll ever end up implementing bot NPCs to fill in the empty slots, since it'd be a lot more difficult to do that given how widely your approach & strategies can vary)


Speaking of which:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1912159475366088706

The Raider's Ult having a high-ground mechanic is unexpected and a pretty damn awesome use of the wall-climbing changes. I cannot WAIT to see both Ironeye & Recluse teaming up with him to use that for superior ranged attacks where it protects things that would have long cast times from being easy targets. I think that his ult in particular has a colossal amount of value for me being primarily focused on being a Recluse player, and of the new characters thus far, I'm VERY excited to try out teams with him, because I think Recluse's Ult giving the HP/FP drain will pair together with his slower & very up-close BONK STICK playstyle.

Really looking forward to seeing what his other abilities end up being (the abilities breakdowns have dropped 2 days after these trailers), since his Skill seems to be some type of super armor punch, and I'd expect a Passive that boosts charge/jump attacks for him to be extra BONK weapon focused wouldn't be too surprising – but that's a bit harder to guess.

EDIT:

A bit surprised that Raider's passive just gives him super armor for his Retaliate Skill, rather than that property being something that's inherent to that Skill already. I'm wondering if he had some sort of other passive, but he just ended up being a bit too strong as a result, so they sort of just constrained his kit a little bit.

I'm also curious with his Ultimate Totem Stela, that assuming that it's a unique buff it applies to himself/allies (so that it doesn't overwrite/cancel any other buffs), what the actual stat changes that the buff applies are, as well as how those are applied. It seems like they're probably localized to the area (similar to Terra Magica or Golden Land), and they seem to apply when you're close to the Totem and not just on top of it – but it's hard to tell how much area nearby it is covered from the clips seen in the trailer.

I'm also pretty curious what'll happen with it when you use it inside hallways or other space-constrained areas, since it seems like there're a lot of potential weird collision interactions that could happen with that that'd need to be pretty well-tested, and it seems like it might be a useful barricade under the right conditions, but those are probably gonna be a bit less common than having it as a useful outpost.

The other thing is that Totem Stela deals damage, which makes me curious if it's got potential utility similar to Guardian's where you can use it to revive Allies that get hit by that AoE. If that's the case, it does give the two of them some pretty good synergy and ability to cover for one another, and depending on how the buff range of Totem Stela works, Guardian's massive AoE Ult might be able to get a pretty crazy damage boost from it. Similarly, I bet that a few of Recluse's Magic Cocktails will be particularly devastating with that buff active, but knowing when to be up on the pillar for the long-range ones vs. how close you need to be for the short-range damage ones will take a bit of figuring out.

The other thing is thinking about how Wylder, Ironeye, & Raider would make for a squad with just... insane Stagger potential, but you'd also be relying really heavily on maintaining that constant aggression since you'd have a lot less in the way of support abilities. There's also something like Raider, Ironeye, & Recluse where you'd be using him to draw aggro, and then being able to keep him up from a distance as well as make the most out of Totem Stela as a vantage point to rain down ranged damage, while also covering for him.

Overall though, he seems like he's gonna be a BEAST of a character, and a ton of fun to run for the big BONK crowd.




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[X-SOLDIER]

We got the Nightreign character trailer & gameplay trailer for Recluse on Wed/Fri last week, as well as the PC System Requirements:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1916839982842450100

Additionally, Elden Ring hit 30 million sales!

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1916855058097938564

As a bit of a different reveal, this week we've gotten a new image that seems to maybe be teasing some of Nightreign's story stuff with our new living doll archetypical character looking at herself in a mirror being held up by a skeletal hand.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1917579738547192207

Her intricate design seems like she's probably an NPC rather than a playable character (though if any game let us play as a living doll, I'd expect it'd be this one). Either way, she's VERY much the sort of entity who's right at home in the "a little bit of everything Soulsbourne" setting that Nightreign has, whoever she is.



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[X-SOLDIER]

Yup, this week's a different one! We're getting a fully 10 minute with gameplay stuff in just under an hour!


EN Version

JP Version

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[X-SOLDIER]

Thoughts on things now that that overview video has been released – tl;dr quite hyped.

Limveld:

When covering the map layout changes – the crazy spiral structure over the ruins of a church, the impact showing a Falling Star Beast actually landing in front of the players, the entirety of the Corruption Forest, the massive & mysterious floating void orbs, as well as the Frenzied Flame "eye of Sauron" tower all have me CRAZY curious about all of the permutations of the maps that we'll end up seeing and/or what sort of options there might be to end up influencing that. I'm wondering if they're tied to particular Relic Rites or other actions that the player can take, or have different probabilities depending on which Nightlord you're attempting.


Threats of the Night:

We really only saw the Malformed Dragon Sentinel and The Duke's Dear Freja in this super-brief segment.

While not appearing in this section, there were a couple of other bosses in the final "Nightlords" section that I was surprised weren't shown here instead (since they're definitely not Nightlords). I was rather surprised to see Astel appearing behind a fog gate seemingly in an underground Eternal City area, since I don't think any of the bosses in the Closed Network Test were behind fog gates, and I'm curious if that might be a different map or something.

Seeing part of the new attack where Godrick seems to be growing a massive tree from his own body seemed crazy interesting. I'm curious if that's something with his phase transition, since he didn't have the Dragon on his arm. Also, seeing an Ancient Dragon as one of the Night 2 bosses, as they typically end up getting new attacks, and I can't imagine what sort of insanity they'd possibly end up with (especially since they show the Malformed Dragon Sentinel using its new Thundercloud Form attack)


Nightfarers:

While shown for a split-second in the UI, and having a new attacks revealed but not directly showcased is that our 7th character, Executor, has a full-face helm that makes them seem like the "Blind Swordsman" archetype, which makes sense given the connection to the Guard Counter / Deflection mechanic that they seem to have with their sword being shows deflecting attacks, and then instantly following up with a dashing slash – which I expect will somehow convert the damage blocked into damage dealt. When discussing the story elements, it was especially interesting to see them as a painter though.

The 8th character wasn't shown or named in the character select UI (and while her Goblet was in the Small Jar Bazaar, we didn't get to see her name), but we do know that our Summon Spirit utilizing character is the doll whose image we got teased on Wednesday. There were only a few brief glimpses of her in-game model, so I expect that she'll be the last reveal. I am very much hoping that there is some high-quality art of all of the other Nightfarers and extremely curious what her gameplay mechanics are gonna end up being like.


Roundtable Hold:

The "Small Jar Bazaar" offering various things gave some neat insights. First is the Character Goblet that enables different Relic Rites. This is something that I'd wondered about from the Closed Network Test, as it enables different combinations of colors for the characters, which will diversify what sort of builds you can enable, based on the things that you've found thus far. This makes each of the characters a lot more flexible, and gives you some good control around the types of things that you'll be able to set up with each of the loadouts, since those are the biggest way to have meta-progression, and answers my confusion from the Closed Network Test about why some Relics had options for characters who couldn't enable them. I am quite curious to see what sort of Skill modifications there end up being for everyone as those seem like they could be some especially significantly empowering options.

All of the cosmetics was especially neat, and it's cool that they showcased the Soulsbourne-referential ones, in addition to ones that are themed more specifically to the characters individually. I do appreciate that it really does get to feel a bit like a celebration of all of the interconnected FromSoft elements that are going into it in a fun way. Also, I would bet money that the Spirit Summon doll gets a Bloodborne Doll outfit (her, Duchess, & Recluse really leaning in hard for the top Soulsbourne waifu appeal is some solid design choice from a team that understands their core target audience).

This section also emphasized a lot of other things with the character interactions that would give you specific Objectives to accomplish during missions that have story-progression for the characters. Aside from just beating the 8 Nightlords, this seems like it's a good way to add in a bit of extra detail into the various missions, and likely to incentivize using the whole roster of characters to try things out and find out everyone's narratives. Especially when looking at the variable way that the maps operate, I'm curious if those will be linked to missions against a specific Nightlord, or if they'll just be something that may end up on any mission.


Nightlords:

The one boss that looks like a hybrid between a Faun & a Basilisk warps in holding his staff already and in different surroundings, rather than having it planted beside him like he did in the first trailer showing that they've been putting some work into animations that we've already been shown. Another change is that the sideways-mawed Dragon appears to be a Nightlord here using gravity magic & vomiting out tar – even though it was shown as a field boss in the initial trailer (biting Wylder & being shot by Ironeye).

They did pad out this section as a part of wrapping up but showing us some more stuff with the Night 2 bosses that I mentioned earlier, which is good, so that they don't give too much away about the big bads that we're trying to work our way towards are gonna big part of the appear that we don't want to have spoiled.




Overall thoughts:

The non-linear progression of the storytelling seemingly being something that you can figure out at your own pace of going through matches, and having a reasons to spend time at the Roundtable Hold doing things, rather than just queuing for the next match feels like it'll be a really nice balance. It's something that makes me draw comparisons to Death Must Die where it feels like this is definitely stepping up over that.

Given that we've gotten character/gameplay trailers for Ironeye, Duchess, Raider, & Recluse on a regular Wednesday/Friday cadence, I am rather curious how they'll drop the other 4 now. We already know Wylder & Guardian but the EU's official Nightreign Heroes page haven't been updated with those videos the way that the others' have. Now their abilities have been covered in this most recent trailer, so I'm wondering if those will get released asynchronously, since the remaining time does make that a bit odd.

• Week 19 (5th-11th) Normal Wed/Friday space for trailers
• Week 20 (12th-18th) Normal Wed/Friday space for trailers
• Week 21 (19th-25th) Friday is one week until launch
• Week 22 (26-1st) Friday is the game release

So, it seems like we MIGHT end up getting the character trailers for the remaining new characters in the next couple weeks, just so that the community has some more time to talk about them and build up interest before focusing on the countdown period & launch trailer.


It's now at the point where it feels like it's impossibly close, but I still have to just contain my excitement and wait for 4 more weeks.





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