Elden Ring: Breath of the From Software

hotseatgames wrote: eh... I think I'll just forgo that rather than having to click on messages knowing that 99% of them are bullshit.

I know it was mentioned above, but I want to highlight again, you can get rid of the vast majority of bullshit messages by playing in a "Group." Maybe someone helped hotseatgames directly above, but I am working through 24 pages of replies here, so forgive me any redundancy.
"Try fingers, but hole"
"Praise the message , and then wonders ahead!"
"Liar ahead"
"Rump!"

All these bullshit messages fade to nothing if you go to the multiplayer menu option, click one of those little symbols and type FEXTRA for the fextralife group. There are at least hundreds of people in it, and you'll know it's working by the changed shape of messages and bloodstains. You'll also get "bonuses" almost constantly from folks in the group doing things. Other folks noted other groups above too, I used FEXTRA because I've used their wiki in the past to beat these games and the community is robust. Messages left are basically helpful guides, decent warnings, and nods toward lore that can make me chuckle if they hit right.

I feel like I’m playing so slow compared to other people I’ve heard talk about this game. It doesn’t bother me, and I know there isn’t a wrong way to play, but I’m curious about you folks’ play style.

For example, I try to do everything in an area before moving on, so the furthest I’ve gotten is I’ve just cleared Liurnia of Lakes (Academy and Caria Manor), after doing all of Limgrave and Stormveil Castle (haven’t touched Caelid). I’m level 78 and 64 hours in.

I do everything in an area that interests me until I hit a hard enough difficulty wall, then I go do something else. It feels like the game communicating with me. I do the same area as much as I can because the worldbuilding works better for me that way; it helps to see all the areas, find all the weirdos and item placements, and do it all at once so I can piece it together organically.

This has been my approach to the game too. I've been gradually fanning further out until I either stumble across an NPC quest line or bump into a barrier that I don't feel kitted out for yet, then circle back into previous areas to look for dungeons or more NPCs. My most recent blocker is the Godskin Apostle at the bottom of the Divine Tower of Caelid. Fuck that guy... and I know I have a duo fight to look forward to later.

I'm mostly on a Faith build and farmed the Caelid swamp for the Halo Scythe after taking out Commander O'Neil, picking up the rest of the Cleanrot Knight gear in the process and finally looking a bit more stylish than my previous hodgepodge of fuzzy Rahdan bits and a wolf mask.

When I start to carry around Runes that are approaching my next level up, I've been warping over to the Lennala fight, putting down my summon sign & fishing for an easy 10k, though that's becoming less efficient than just clearing out some of the early camps on Altus Plateau. I do prefer to burn most of my Runes before entering a boss fight, but this is getting tougher to do as the Rune requirements keep scaling.

There are so many side-tasks to pursue that I never feel especially deflated when I encounter something like the Crucible Knight & Misbegotten Warrior fight (fuck those guys too). I notice something like my Summons need some leveling & decide to hunt down the bell that allows me to buy the Glovewort I need, or I remember I have more Deathroot to find, etc, etc, and most of it just organically flows in the way that feels similar to something like Skyrim.

I know some of the late game areas are some serious bullshit, so I'm taking my time with this peculiar rhythm of open world exploration and the gauntlets that punctuate it.

Disgustipater wrote: I feel like I’m playing so slow compared to other people I’ve heard talk about this game. It doesn’t bother me, and I know there isn’t a wrong way to play, but I’m curious about you folks’ play style.

For example, I try to do everything in an area before moving on, so the furthest I’ve gotten is I’ve just cleared Liurnia of Lakes (Academy and Caria Manor), after doing all of Limgrave and Stormveil Castle (haven’t touched Caelid). I’m level 78 and 64 hours in.

I probably move a little faster than you, but only because I know I am going to play it again and do different stuff. I also look around a LOT. I was behind StormVeil before I even saw Margit. I just went around the whole thing, picked up some grapes, had a grand old time. I got teleported to the world's worst ren faire over in Caelid and managed to fight my way back. I am too weak for that zone, it is clear.



Anyway, I went back, got some teammates (advice: go for a build not like your own), took down Margit, and then I spent many many hours going over Stormveil. Teammates help here too, Even if just to clear out big courtyards of baddies. Finished off the master there in one go, toot toot.

What Spirit Ashes are you guys using? I am team jellyfish, I gotta say. Love that big dumb blob.

Me and my Godrick Knight boys roll deep. Bash brothers. Totally inefficient, they are close to exactly my build.

I've also used the greatshield boys.

On the early recommendation of Mr. Sax, I too was using the Godrick Soldier ashes. However I have switched to Banished Knight Oleg. He seems to do pretty well for me, though he needs Ghost Glovewarts so he’s harder to upgrade. He’s also a high cost at 100 FP. I had to level up Mind like 12 levels before I could use him.

On an unrelated note, Vyke, an NPC invader wont spawn for me (I guess I killed all the bosses in the area too soon?) so now I can’t finish Hyetta’s quest.

Same problem re: bug here. Sucks.

If anyone is on the fence about getting this game, here is my in-game to-do list at the moment:

• Help that nice monkey man who is also a bush.
• Literally find a needle in a haystack (the haystack is a poison swamp).
• See if there is any way under heaven and earth and below earth to actually make a skeleton mage stay dead for real.
• Kill a god, (Not sure which one yet. Probably the zombie moose.)

re: skeletons.

You need to give an extra hit while they are on the ground reforming to kill them for good. If that doesn't work, it means there is a live necromancer pretty nearby you need to kill before you can deliver those on the ground finishes. This game doesn't do perpetual respawns with no mechanic behind it that I'm aware.

You can also kill them with some form of holy damage to end around even having to hit them on the ground or get raised by a necro. I like the craftable holy pots for this.

As a side note I genuinely think the crafting system is a big improvement on consumables in previous From games. It makes me use them more, almost everything can just be recrafted from common stuff.

Update: Moose God is dead! Monkey Man Who Was A Bush will be like his Mum!

The extra, hit, ah OK. I cooked up a Sacred Short Spear just to have something "Divine-like" to kill them with but they just kept coming back. Too much Soulsborne knowledge backfired on me.

Gary Sax wrote: I ran into some crystal minibosses. You 1000% need to use a strike weapon.

Just a quick note that the above information has been invaluable.

Just hit something that really was awesome. Spoilering this, it is in Leyndell and concerns a side quest from Volcano Manor.

jeb wrote: If anyone is on the fence about getting this game, here is my in-game to-do list at the moment:

• Done. Help that nice monkey man who is also a bush.
• Literally find a needle in a haystack (the haystack is a poison swamp).
• Done. See if there is any way under heaven and earth and below earth to actually make a skeleton mage stay dead for real.
• Done. Kill a god, (Not sure which one yet. Probably the zombie moose.)

Not sure what to do next. Some NPCs are saying, "Find some young lady I once knew." Ok, dude! Will do! This place is like 2500 sq. mi., I'll keep an eye out.

Now that I can kill Skeletons I can try Caelid again.

I had to Google the monkey bush, certainly didn't run into that one myself