Elden Ring: Breath of the From Software

Three really good responses I'm not going to add to, I think they're mostly right.

I got into souls pretty heavy like 5 years ago, I become obsessed and even platinumed Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3 but "merely" finished Sekiro and went back to the old ones. I would say that Sekiro is traditionally difficult. It is actually pretty demanding of your reflexes and dexterity but otherwise they're just challenging in that respect and not overly demanding. It's all about patience.

I wanted to mention something I think lends to the reputation that wasn't mentioned; it's self imposed culturally.

One of the things driving the famed difficulty in this series is the git gud attitude that also came with it. These games have tools like summons that simply smooth the difficult curve by a lot. It's intentional, that's why it's part of the design. But people internalize this online attitude of not using summons, brokenly powerful weapons, etc as if they are the true rules of the game. You can always summon and it'll make your game so much easier, even if it's an AI summon. That is enhanced even more in Elden Ring. Moreover, most of the hardest bosses and challenge bosses are completely optional. You don't have to fight them, they aren't essential, and it's not you being a baby if you don't fight them. But this, again, is an area where this macho culture has steeped into these games like you have to fight them. You don't!

The other thing to think about when you read people talking about these games is that once you've done one of them and understand the rhythms, you're really prepared for future games. So most experienced folks like me have a huge leg up and might let that affect their perception of difficulty. They've already learned this patience curve once in a different game, and it's going to help them in this one even if the combat rhythm is different.

The main thing re souls difficulty is you gotta be patient and you gotta expect to die A LOT. everything everywhere is lethal, even the little peons. You will die and you will lose lots of souls (runes in this one but whatever, xp) sometimes, but they're easy come easy go. If you played the Arkham games on hard you should be okay with the twitch reflex requirements etc. The really hard bosses are a lot of pattern recognition and reacting to their attacks correctly based on your build. The other difficult thing to come to terms with is From games don't explain themselves very well in terms of... Anything. Elden Ring seems like a step forward in this regard, but theres tons of arcane systems and weird shit in these games and they just get dumped on you and From shrugs and says dunno. This is pretty easily solved by the internet, as it turns out.

So yea if this is your first From game the general From Software learning curve of mentally coming to terms with getting stomped by some bullshit around every corner is the main thing. The general loop is go to a new place, get killed by a new thing with varying levels of absolutely toxic bullshit, figure out the new thing after x deaths, progress. This game in particular is big enough with the open world that theres always a different place you can go get murdered at instead if things aren't working out where you're at, and generally you will be richly rewarded for doing so (new items, more levels, just generally getting better at the game).

A couple of useful beginner tips that are not obvious in the game:

You can run by holding down the roll button

You can throw rainbow stones off ledges to see if the fall will kill you (they break if it's lethal)

While on horseback you can use l1/l2 to attack off the left side of your horse

There's multiple ways to get smithing stones at vendors so don't be afraid to use them once you find some

More specific info re smithing stone vendors:

This is a good guide when starting out. I referred to it a couple of times after my first hour or so in the game, just to get familiar with the combat.

Something worth mentioning is that you should NEVER feel like you are cheating or missing out on something by looking at online guides, tips, and so forth. A big reason that these games are so successful is that all of the lore and indeed most of the mechanisms are essentially crowdsourced. When you play this game, a big part of it is talking about it and sharing your findings. Because you find out everybody, unless they are just copying online builds, sort of gets to different points and revelations different ways. There is so much obscured information and so much mechanical complexity that you need every advantage you can get. Trading stories/comparing notes is very much a part of the game and in fact it is built in with the messaging system.

I beat Margit last night. Cooperator I summoned fell off the bridge, Margit got confused and attacked the air for a few seconds, which gave me enough time to crit him a couple of times. Whew!

I was exploring a cave this evening, it was quite dark and disturbing... and when I emerged into the light, found myself on the small island! It was a really cool moment.

Good news I found non ghost versions of the sniper minotaurs!

Narrator: it was not good news at all.


Edit: the platinum doesn't seem too wild for this one, only 4 missable trophies mostly having to do with different endings I think. You can do the Bloodborne thing where you get all the endings in one go, so I'll probably go for it. I'm like 37 hrs in and absolutely loving it... This game has been my second job this week I keep finding crazier shit everywhere I go!

LOLLLLLL I found them last night too! Fucking one shotted me with a giant blue arrow. I thought hey cool maybe these are easier since they aren’t ghosts…nope.

I was totally on tilt last night though, just sloppy and dying stupidly left and right. I was trying to find the cave up in Liturnia where you get the bearing to buy smithing stones but the damn Minotaurs are around where it is supposed to be.

Also found a castle or something with some not-Godrick soldiers X they had a flame throwing tank. Shaped like a giant monster head.

You know what the worst monster is? Fucking BEARS. OMG I just run from them.

Haha! Last night I was on my horse and saw my first jump pad whatever. Bounced way up and landed next to two bears. I galloped the fuck away.

Michael Barnes wrote: LOLLLLLL I found them last night too! Fucking one shotted me with a giant blue arrow. I thought hey cool maybe these are easier since they aren’t ghosts…nope.

I was totally on tilt last night though, just sloppy and dying stupidly left and right. I was trying to find the cave up in Liturnia where you get the bearing to buy smithing stones but the damn Minotaurs are around where it is supposed to be.

Also found a castle or something with some not-Godrick soldiers X they had a flame throwing tank. Shaped like a giant monster head.

You know what the worst monster is? Fucking BEARS. OMG I just run from them.

Re the mine you're looking for


Also those tanks suuuuuuck if there are other enemies around.

Frohike wrote: This is a good guide when starting out. I referred to it a couple of times after my first hour or so in the game, just to get familiar with the combat.

I had to say this is a GREAT video. No spoilers at all, just explanations that FROM Software couldn't be bothered to tell you. And Michael is dead on... look up any strategy, discuss, etc. Every time I learn something about the game, I am like "what the fuck, how was I supposed to know that" etc etc etc

Fuck’s sake, I had no idea about that spoiler! A great example of why sharing info is important.

I found the best grinding spot in the game- Worshipper’s Woods. At first I was hitting the Ghost Minotaurs for about 800 per go, but then I added in two crabs near by on the route and now I’m pulling about 2k each time.

I finally unlocked the area in the very first stranded graveyard…crazy trap thing…

hotseatgames wrote: I was exploring a cave this evening, it was quite dark and disturbing... and when I emerged into the light, found myself on the small island! It was a really cool moment.

Questions... that cave I mentioned. It was dark as fuck because I have not bought a torch. Is the torch consumable? Also, are the summon spirits consumable? I have the wolves and a jellyfish but have not used them yet.

hotseatgames wrote:

hotseatgames wrote: I was exploring a cave this evening, it was quite dark and disturbing... and when I emerged into the light, found myself on the small island! It was a really cool moment.

Questions... that cave I mentioned. It was dark as fuck because I have not bought a torch. Is the torch consumable? Also, are the summon spirits consumable? I have the wolves and a jellyfish but have not used them yet.

Torch is not consumable. Equip it to your offhand and switch to it as needed. There's also a belt lantern you can buy later that doesn't take up one of your hands, be on the lookout for it.

Spirit summons are not consumable. They will help immensely during boss fights. You can tell when they are summonable by the little headstone/arch symbol that appears above your item stuff on the bottom left of the screen. My favorites at the beginning are the jellyfish and the demihumans if you find those. There's an npc side quest to make them upgradeable that I strongly recommend doing asap. Can post more info in a spoiler if you want.

I think it was a mistake to gate spirit summons behind a missable time of day sensitive encounter.

I think you'll know if you like this game by whether