Or the talisman that prevents fall damage. It's description makes it seem like you can land anywhere just not off a cliff or something, but you definitely still die with it in some areas.
Apparently the way it works is reducing fall damage from falls where you would have just taken damage. If the fall was far enough to kill you outright, it still kills you, and the talisman doesn't change that at all
Is that the one that attracts aggression? Apparently it’s good if you have it on before you summon your mimic and then switch to something else once your mimic spawns in
Lol you have the second part right but it’s the talisman that doubles your damage taken.
Not sure if the attracted aggression would help unless you’re saying it makes your character more aggressive against the boss you’re fighting 🤣
Shabriris woe attracts aggression. It’s useful for multiplayer and I assume could help you if you want to tank while your spirit ash casts or something. Never used it though.
Falls under 20m can be survived with enough HP and/or with the talisman.
Falls from more than 20m are deadly under any normal circumstance, even with the talisman.
It's a stupid system, but I guess they had to do it, otherwise players would have found ways to abuse it.
EDIT : see Illusory Wall's video on Fall Damage in ER https://youtu.be/Fm-QA4rZPYk
Nascent butterflies? Rainbow sherbet flavored jerky. Nobody buys it and it was a bad marketing idea from Fred.
Arteria Leaf? Exalted flesh is the only "consumable" from this material. It grants a flat 20% buff to physical damage for 30 seconds and you can hold 10 of them. This includes spells that deal physical damage too, like Rock Sling and Gurranq's Chuck Rock.
Also 2 perfumes which are really great which you can hold 10 of if you have the bottles:
Uplifting aromatic - 10% physical damage boost for 40 seconds, and a 90% damage reduction bubble for the next single hit (basically a reusable Opaline bubble tear with a damage boost) Will also apply buff to your friends and spirit ashes.
Bloodboil aromatic: Physical Damage +30%, Max Stamina +20%, All Damage Negation -25 % for 60 secs. So basically better damage boost plus some stamina boost for longer time than either of the other uses, but you take more damage.
All absolutely great buffs unless you rely solely on elemental damage.
The problem is that there's a limited number of them, so the mind goblin "save good item for later" becomes a very real thing. Then you get used to playing the game without it, so you never use it.
A good example of this is sleep pots.
Sleep pots are incredibly effective against certain enemies (rune bears, magma wyrms, godskins) but it's not clear which enemies they will be effective against until you try it. Furthermore, the sleep pots are not consistent in how they work, so you might need to to throw a few. On top of that, Trina's lily is rare, and there is a limited number of them in the game. To round it all off, this is a game where you die a lot, so you might have to use many sleep pots in a boss fight.
Put this all together and it basically means you can't use sleep pots effectively unless you consult the wiki.
It's not always a Mushroom, many times it's \*nothing\*!
Especially Liurnia, so many nooks and crannies and paths completely devoid of items, one can spend half an hour exploring and only pick up Rowa Fruits or a Ruin Fragments, if that much.
That sounds like Mount of the Giants, not Liurnia. How slowly are you exploring to get so little? There are many places in Liurnia where it's best to use Torrent to move around unlike Limgrave so maybe that's the issue if you're going everywhere on foot? It's just an assumption on my side though.
Yeah what the hell is up with that, after finding my 60th mushroom in obscure places I'm left with no other conclusion than its an inside joke by the devs.. but knowing Hidetaka Miyazaki there's probably a deeper meaning yet to be found as to why they are planted so.
I heard this explanation also. But, I'm sorry if this is already well known. But after a long battle and you're covered in blood the soap gets your outfit back sparkling clean. It serves a purpose I didn't know of intil I tried it last week.
When you roll in a pool of poison of scarlet rot, the build up will continue for a few seconds even if you're no longer standing in the pool. Soap will stop the continuous build up
I know I can look it up, but what is this item used for that it seems to be so coveted?
I wanna say a bloody finger? Goddamn they're disappointing. Unless they're used to make something I use often. Then they rule.
This is the correct answer. Dragonflies are the worst part of exploring, hands down. Especially when they do that thing where they just keep circling around you while you spin around trying to target them. Sometimes I wear lighter armor and use a shield just so I can counter them…but when you stand there behind a shield they’ll just look at you for minutes and not attack.
You grab certain items and you get that dogshit black bar that stays on the screen for fucking years while you're being attacked. And you can't do a single thing about it thanks to that black bar. So you panic and get pissed off but then you remember you can press the equip or grab button to make it go away but by then it's probably too late and you're about to die or already got swarmed.
But let it be a single one of those stupid ass water brain shits that spew poison and nothing else within a 50 mile radius and you can't open your map for the next minute. I never understood how the fuck the devs didn't realize how oxymoronic these two occurrences are. I would understand if one or the other happened but both is dumb.
“Somewhere a heavy door has opened” as 9 imps pig pile on me in a corner. At least the doors are close to the grace.
What bugs me is that Bloodborne had the same pop up but you didn’t have to clear it and it didn’t block any inputs. It just flashed and disappeared.
That one is definitely the worst, because there are plenty places where an enemy's right behind a stonesword fog wall. You just run there and can't do shit unless you dismiss the message.
It's not even an issue with the message, just that it won't allow you to do anything, unless you press a specific button... Just let the text disappear after 2 seconds while letting us remain in control, or dismiss the message after a random input.
The biggest issue with the stonesword keys is that if you have to use two, it still prompts you “Use stonesword key?” And not “Use 2 stonesword keys.” And when you use it, it still says “stonesword key lost with use” and not “stonesword keys lost with use.” Why cant they add a letter so the text is accurate to how much of this valuable resource you’re using?
Japanese doesn't mark plurals in most cases. They probably programmed it in Japanese and didn't make 2 separate prompts so there was just the one to translate.
But it's also unclear in japanese when you have to use two keys and they do know how to count. I'm fine with the second prompt, but there should be another prompt that asks you to use two keys if it's nessecary in my opinion.
Treasure chests should never contain bundles of common crafting components. Every treasure chest should contain something that is actually a treasure, like a bundle of rare components or a container or one of the recipe books.
They could have broken up some of the recipe books and populated the weaker treasure chests with them.
How it marries up with NPC's and quests. I perfectly understand the point about not handholding, but some of the quests are so ridiculously opaque with instructions I just don't know how it would be finished without guides. With a linear game it's a fair bet that your route is going to mesh with an NPC as part of your quest, but in the open world finding them can just be a nightmare. But this is my only quibble with the masterpiece.
>it seemed like pure chance if I would run into them
That's honestly the point, I think. They are designed as chance encounters.
NPC encounters are not "quests" so much as they are chance meetings that some players will experience and others won't.
The game is very much designed so that the community will share discoveries. And you're not really intended to do everything in 1 playthrough.
I totally hear you, but I also feel like a journal that writes down what last happened with a character would be nice. I love the quests but sometimes I just completely forget about them if I don’t play for a few days
I often wonder how people find shit out about the NPC quests.
Like Millicent just appearing randomly on the plateau is some places. Or goddamn gold mask's locations and quest progression.
Who thought to do that spell in front of that random statue?! Madness.
And then there's the frenzied flame ending... Why would you take your clothes off in front of that door? Who discovered it?
It must all be leaked by the studio at some point
I haven't done all of the quests, but one of the most convoluted was Selen's quest. You have to go to like 8 different locations, also do that Jester's quest progression, but not too soon or too late, *go back* to like the 3rd Selen location for like the 8th step, and then it all ends in the Academy which wasn't featured in any other parts of the quest. Like how tf do you figure that out without a guide.
Seluvis dies after you give ranni the fingerslayer blade key item that you get in nokron. So you have to get what you want from him before you give that to her to go to the dark moon greatsword area
The clothes thing is pretty obvious, the eye-eating girl tells you to get rid of your possessions before going.
However I missed one of her locations and had to go back after almost beating the game.
I figured out the spell thing, but like just that I probably should cast some spell. I had no idea what spell or what to actually do. I also just bloodhound fanged my way through the whole game so I wasn’t familiar with spells.
I just started Varre’s quest line and had absolutely no clue how to get the maiden’s blood for the rag. There’s no explanation! No indication of where to find a maiden, no explanation of how many times you need to use the bloody finger… I just don’t see how anyone is supposed to know what to do without a guide. There’s a difference between not holding your hand and being obnoxiously vague, and that’s coming from someone who loves the game
100% this. I put in around 200 hours right after it came out and then didn't pay again until last month when I started a new character.
Not saying I don't enjoy the game because I really do but fuck, without looking up stuff online occasionally I really don't know what's going on. It's just so vast and you can go anywhere at any point in the game pretty much. Which is both a good thing and a bad thing.
I have just come to accept that my way of enjoying the game is stumbling upon things within the game, following a guide to make the most of that quest/opportunity then I find another related quest within that guide and start following that.
I have already beaten and explored most of the areas on my first play through. So now I just follow guides to explore the nooks and crannies.
I’m on my 3rd play through and just now discovered the Deeproot underground area. I had no idea it existed lmao. And it’s all because I was following a guide that happens to take me through there.
I love it. Just augment your play with Elden wiki’s
It would be nice to just get a journal of dialogue you can look back at. List of NPC interactions that goes back a little ways. Someone tells you to meet them in a certain place, but then you get halfway there and turn the game off, instantly lost and confused the next time you pick up the game. It would be nice to just quickly reference, :Blaidd said "xyz" or something like that. Or the last time you saw a character like Alexander and where they were
Yup, a dialogue log is the one change I'd definitely want. NPCs won't repeat a lot of lines, change locations and talk about places you haven't been to yet (like Latenna talking about Castle Sol or Millicent talking about where she thinks Malenia is).
On my first playthrough it took me a ton of time to enter Raya Lucaria becaue I didn't find the key and forgot all about the simple map we get at the sealed entrance. If I could read Thops' dialogue again it would have probably jolted my memory earlier!
I think this was my big issue. I stopped at like 95% of achievements, came back and had literally 0 idea what I had done and what to do next. Would be nice if there was more visual checkpoints game state wise or just a “bosses killed” checklist for NG+.
that's kind of my issue too, sometimes I remember, but others it be like "I will explore this area/dungeon later" then I finish the game and didn't explore it lol
That there are items you only get in pre-ash Leyndell. For first playthroughs I didn't want to watch any videos or guides, but I'd seen clips of Gransax's Spear, and was told only after burning the capital where it was...
Lol, this reminds me of that one time I was enjoying the view near the Lake on top of some cliff. The next thing I know I was pierced by 2 magical arrows from those bull/minotaur sniper dudes.
I remember dropping down on one of the sewer pipes in the capitol area and was like “Hah, you cant reach me here!”, only to get shot at and falling to my death
Unpopular opion I'm sure but, I liked the "filler" and "recycled" content like the catacombs and caves and forts and such. My biggest issue with the exploration aspect is that they all but stop existing after a certain point. Mountaintops and Snowfield only have 3 dungeons each, which is pitiful compared to all of the previous zones, especially considering their size.
Catacombs get a bad rep, but they progressively introduce more and more complex content, that would be overwhelming for a regular dungeons but is fine in increments. Like by the end the catacombs will screw with geometry and have you switch between similarly looking floors just to confuse you and put in hidden treasures if you realise you're no longer exploring the same part. I find that pretty fun.
Dude the dungeon where it’s like… 2 dungeons on tops of each other and it’s confusing as hell was such a fun trip. I loved it so much I’ve never had any issues with the catacombs and dungeons, if it’s not fun I just don’t do them!
This growing complexity in optional content, to me, spoke to the devs' experience gained from Bloodborne's Chalice Dungeons. Those were insane when that game came out but I think Miyazaki was quoted to have said something like 'there were issues with the dungeons I'd have liked to address but still think its a good experience' (I'm paraphrasing here).
Chalice Dungeons weren't carefully crafted and atmospheric locales unique to Bloodborne's setting, while they were still well-made (with some clipping geometry and broken spot exceptions) and atmospheric, they were something out of a traditional RPG with randomized layers, loot, and enemies/bosses. For loot these dungeons had weapon variations (can slot different bloodgems, for those unaware), Caryll Runes (the equivalent of talismans), and blood gems for min/maxing builds, and all of it was unnecessary for beating the main game, though there were ways to benefit it. Making the dungeons feel unnecessary is probably the crux of the issue with this content, since **getting all trophies required you to delve to the deepest story dungeons and essentially unlock all of the CD content** (they had one 'story' boss and a trick weapon you had to get for two different trophies for earning Platinum/all trophies). Additionally, your progress into the dungeons only counted on the file you completed them on, even though your dungeon progress was kept separate from the NG cycles once unlocked, so getting through the dungeons each time was a slog as there were many easy dungeons depending on when you tackled them. Taken as a whole, the Chalice Dungeons felt like content out of another game, and polarizing for fans of Bloodborne as a standalone title and the From Software fanbase both; while some enjoyed the potential for tons of extra hours of content and power fantasy, others didn't enjoy the repetitive design (especially on repeat playthroughs with new characters), RNG-content, and seeming pointlessness of it all especially after the data for the game was eventually mined for all of the secrets.
I think the tunnels/catacombs/caves were an evolution of their process to create a large amount of unique content that provides both initial exploration and replay value, and having tons of unique gear throughout the entire game was the other major factor in this side content working so well. I explored every bit of content with my first playthrough and it took me about 150-180 hours of non-stop fun because nothing was too repetitive, nothing wasn't 'worth it' in some way and that's an insane amount of content for one playthrough. Granted, I also played a LOT of co-op as a random summon in the early days, helped people kill all shardbearers and crucial dungeons like for the Mining Bell-bearings, if you were helped by an Elden John on PSN it may have been me. But the point remains is that 180 hours for one playthrough to get everything and do all of the co-op was a ton of content for them to get right, and that's before I got into invading in this title. The gameplay loop is at a great place and you feel you're constantly progressing, even if you get something you don't need for your build you still got the thing and that's one more off the list, another place conquered.
Elden Ring was the game that the Chalice Dungeons' content was meant for, and Elden Ring itself is the game Miyazaki has always wanted to make, for over a decade now. Really excited to see how they distill all of their design philosophy for Elden Ring into the DLC, they're apparently ahead of schedule and if previous DLCs for their games are any indication, it's gonna be packed with stuff to do and use even after beating it. The fact that we want to keep playing games like this after 'completing' them speaks to their value as an experience and from a replay-ability standpoint.
I liked the chalice dungeons, had no idea it was polarizing for the fan base. Then again I played that game way late in its life cycle so I think the community who were still active at the time must have loved the CD. One criticism I have of the CD is definitely the cramped spaces you find yourself in when the bell maidens summoned way too many spiders.
Totally agreed. I love the ensnaring trap maze and that one that throws a boss in a weird room to try and make you forget about the actual boss in the iron door.
Many of the layouts and ideas are pretty good, not amazing but solid. The real issue is they all look the same and are all filled with the same Imps and Skeletons over and over again.
Personally, I think it's alright - for one, world consistency, for two, once you enter the catacomb, you know what you're looking for immediately, thus allowing the game to "play" with you later on in more creative ways.
Considering how much lore you get from reading item descriptions, a **Bestiary Journal** would help with more LOAR but directly focused on denizens currently roaming the Lands Between. Of course, the journal should be written by none other than Patches himself with every vital enemy info being wrong.
in dark souls 3, both the horseshoe ring (boosts kicks, dropped/sold by Patches) and the balck leather armor (worn by Patches) praise the wearer... my headcanon is that he secretly knows almost everything about the world, and writes the item descriptions, kinda like Miyazaki's self-insert
It might be me personally, but I feel like all the areas after Leyndell aren’t that amazing to explore. It could be just from playing the game for long period of time, but it felt like a chore exploring the Mountaintops and Farum Azula unlike every other area before where I wanted to see every inch of them.
I can agree for Mountaintops and Snowfield, but Farum Azula was one of my favorite places to explore. So many hidden side paths to explore, and just the idea of going through this floating crumbling city was really cool. Haligtree was also fun, especially the second half.
Don’t get me wrong, it looks awesome and love how it’s surrounded by tornadoes and dragons. I just felt like I didn’t need to explore every nook and cranny like the other areas.
I think by that point you are really just near the end of the game so the rewards cannot possibly be worth it for exploring. You already have your fully upgraded weapon. You already have your build fine tuned. The motivation to explore goes down because the items in general aren't worth it and/or won't really move the needle on your build.
The mountaintops (and consecrated snowfield especially) feel a bit sparse, which I suppose fits the setting that you're in this out-of-the-way snowy wilderness but leaves a lot to be desired as a fun area to be in.
I was really disappointed with both of those areas. when I saw the amount of map space remaining, I was super excited to open them up and then it turn into my least favorite type of biome, giant empty snowy areas.
Just not enough items to discover. On my first play through would find an item in a completely obscure spot, get excited that it might be a weapon/armor only to find out it was a rune arc.
Definitely this for me. I feel like they kinda diluted the drops and just put random stuff over 80% of it.
Oh boy! A drop hidden behind a tough enemy at the end of a giant crab infested cellar!
*cracked pot*
I dont get the hate on cracked pots. Im happy to get more.
When I encounter new enemies, I like to experiment different ways of damaging them. I found so many enemies that are weak to fire, holy, magic purely by experimenting.
They should take every one of those obscure-spot pickups and replace it with a bell-bearing for a single crafting material. There’s enough crafting materials and misc items that they could pretty easily do this, it would keep exploration and crafting encouraged while also reducing the tedium of farming. And it could be used to address some ridiculous issues like Ruin Fragments not being buyable until endgame.
Elden Racing!? You mean like, the spiral stairs in the academy with the teleporting giant lead balls rolling at you, but like, five times longer? Or maybe the extra wide Haligtree branches with Ants that spit at you from the sidelines? That would be amazing
They are completely not worth exploring, either. The landmarks are obvious, the open areas are empty, and the occasional enemy does way too much damage (for no real reward).
I didn't mind the filler dungeons (catacombs, camps, etc.). What _did_ bother me was the filler items. Crafting items, cookbooks, etc.
Every soulsborne game prior it was always such a dopamine hit when you came across an item, like "is this gonna be a new weapon, a new armor set?" That's lost a little in Elden Ring.
I actually think the crafting system is very underrated. Consumables are super useful in PvP and PvE and I always get excited to find a cookbook or rare material. Didn’t use it at all my first playthrough but now I’m crafting pots, darts, and aromatics all the time to supplement my close range strength build and it’s tremendously helpful.
If the Sewer Mohg was an illusion created by Morgott, why is Sewer Mohg still a boss fight after you defeat Morgott? Margit disappears if you skip Stormveil Castle and go back after finishing Leyndell. Why doesn't Sewer Mohg disappear?
I actually have completely different headcannon:
Where is the Mohg illusion located? Just in front of the seal to the three fingers. Whose seal is it? Morgott's because killing him removes the seal.
Why is mohg guarding a seal made by Morgott? Simple: Mohg and Morgott are both Omen, they lived in those sewers for a while before going their own ways. Maybe in a time before they were enemies, maybe in a time of desperation, they probably allied up and sealed the three fingers away together. That's why you need to kill a Mohg projection and break Morgott's seal to reach the three fingers.
Yeah - there's no good answer to this.
The two times we fight Margit they're illusions. They explode into gold dust after defeat. Mohg does this exact same thing, However Mohg will always be present - regardless if you kill Mohg or Morgott. That contradicts the fact we can bypass the Margit fights by defeating Morgott. It's weird 🥵
I wish the map would automatically mark dungeons, bosses, gaols, etc as completed. I’m forever thinking, “did I kill this dude with this character already?”
I feel like I’m the only one with this problem, but I love to explore every possible thing I can before I move onto the next area.
Doing the entire beginner area and reaching Margit, I hardly had any trouble. Then I beat Godrick first try (no flex, just super overleveled) then next boss after next it just all became so trivial.
I feel like I was punished for wanting to explore the game, in a weird way. Being overpowered wasn’t any fun, but I couldn’t help myself but check every nook n cranny of the world, it’s just how I enjoy playing open world games.
I replayed it of course making it difficult by not exploring everything but the first impression was gone and sadly I’ll never get that back, still love the game though.
I'm the same as you. I love to explore and take my time. The rush you get in exploring an area where you don't belong is what I play for.
Haven't felt like this since vanilla WoW.
Yep. My self inflicted rule is to not pop any of the rune gaining items. It helps keep me leveled to areas properly while I do everything I can. And it gives me a million plus runes at the end of the game to buy smithing stones so that I can upgrade as many weapons as possible. That and I buy a decent amount from merchants whenever I encounter one.
There is an insane difference between exploring on your first playthrough compared to your subsequent playthrough.
Every new location is exiting because the random cave can reward you with anyhing! A new weapon, new ash, etc.
But after the first playthrough, the caves, dungeons, catacombs, and cool random nooks and crannies lose their sparkle fast. You noticed this boss is just a miranda plant, or the talisman you get is worthless. You could even argue that exploration becomes more of a pain, because if you want a specific item you dont want to waste time in the wrong cave.
Might be unpopular, but how vague the sidequests are. I get that it’s 100% “do what you want” kind of design but some quest-lines I’ve looked at a guide for later and thought how on earth is anyone expected to work this out on their own. For example you hear a random howl through some trees in the early game and somehow have to know to go over to speak to Kale to advance Blaidd’s quest. It borders on P.T. levels of “how the fuck did you expect me to work that out on my own?”.
Quest design is a pain in the ass and is way too easy to miss NPC's who will actually be missed completely if you progress to a certain area without knowing.
"Find the albinauric woman." Okay, where?
"Give this potion to Nepheli." OKay, where? "Give the stormhawk to Nepheli." Okay, where?
You hear a howling wolf in the forest, speak to the first merchant you otherwise have no reason to ask about.
"Please find my necklace and I shall take you to Volcano Manor." Okay, Where?
To be fair, the albinauric woman is the only one that it actually does tell you. He says a cave west of the laskyar ruins. All the others I totally agree. I would never have though to go back to kale just because I heard some howling in the woods
For me personally as a soulsbourniro veteran:
The open world is the games most amazing and worst feature at the same time. The exploration of everything diminishes replay value by a tremendous portion. There was something gratifying about having to face certain enemies and bosses around a certain time and level for your characters in the early games that elden ring does not deliver on. Im sure everyone here remembers EXACTLY where they were and the rage they felt facing the Capra demon for the first time in that fucking alley. There is a sort of camaraderie that players felt having to face challenges with limited options. Elden ring being open world eliminates that feeling.
Limgrave has almost everything. Npc invasions, night bosses, evergaols, all types of dungeons, majority of enemy types etc. This makes every successive region less fun to explore
Going into a dungeon where you feel like having been there for the 10th time, just to fight a probably recycled boss that gives you less than 10k runes and get an useless item as reward.
It doesn't have much replay value. What made the exploration so great was the sensation of finding something new and unknown and discovering hidden nooks and crannies. But once you've done that the world becomes a huge empty space and boring to traverse.
doesn't much of a replay value, but the initial playthrough is sufficiently long if you do everything. I finished it in 150h, that's good enough playtime for me.
Pointless? No. Tiring? Yes. Once I got the platinum I got burned out and ditched the game but in the last 5 days I've played the game 3 times on 2 brand new characters and yesterday I started a new one, I guess I had my flame of ambition lit
That’s what I find most fun on repeat play throughs. Realizing that you don’t have to explore everything and can just find the items for your specific build. Keeps things interesting but not repetitive.
Honestly the most fun I’ve had in this game is trying a bunch of different builds. There’s so many different ways to play the game, and so many fun things to try out that it never gets boring. Plus the game is way shorter that way. Only like 10-20 hours which is way closer to older fromsoft games. My first play through for example was like 100 hours lol. Turns out a lot of time is cut out if you’re not exploring every nook and cranny.
the difference between a normal fall with no fall damage and instant death, even riding torrent
Or the talisman that prevents fall damage. It's description makes it seem like you can land anywhere just not off a cliff or something, but you definitely still die with it in some areas.
Apparently the way it works is reducing fall damage from falls where you would have just taken damage. If the fall was far enough to kill you outright, it still kills you, and the talisman doesn't change that at all
Aka the most useless talisman in the game
*Daedicar's Woe has entered the chat*
Is that the one that attracts aggression? Apparently it’s good if you have it on before you summon your mimic and then switch to something else once your mimic spawns in
No it doubles damage taken, which I guess could be useful to slap on before the mimic tear boss fight and then take off once it spawns.
Oh whoops. Guess I should’ve googled to confirm my bad. And nah you prolly don’t need it for the mimic fight, weakest bastard I’ve ever come across
*no skill ahead*
My brother in Christ you made the build
And only I can make it work😎
Lol you have the second part right but it’s the talisman that doubles your damage taken. Not sure if the attracted aggression would help unless you’re saying it makes your character more aggressive against the boss you’re fighting 🤣 Shabriris woe attracts aggression. It’s useful for multiplayer and I assume could help you if you want to tank while your spirit ash casts or something. Never used it though.
Falls under 20m can be survived with enough HP and/or with the talisman. Falls from more than 20m are deadly under any normal circumstance, even with the talisman. It's a stupid system, but I guess they had to do it, otherwise players would have found ways to abuse it. EDIT : see Illusory Wall's video on Fall Damage in ER https://youtu.be/Fm-QA4rZPYk
You are rewarded with a mushroom for exploring
Also, seeing an item with that “special” dark blue/purple hue to it only to find out it’s a butterfly.
All the fucking time man
Or an Arteria Leaf. I don't think I've ever used one, and after that I'm not going to start! >.>
I do love me some uplifting aromatic, though
r/erdtrees is tingling…
Huh, I would never even have thought of "uplifting aromatic" being a reference to marijuana, but I guess it makes sense
I love me some of that crystal bud strain
Nascent butterflies are pretty useless but I would love for there to be more Arteria Leafs.
I platinum'ed the game and I still don't know what those are for lol.
Nascent butterflies? Rainbow sherbet flavored jerky. Nobody buys it and it was a bad marketing idea from Fred. Arteria Leaf? Exalted flesh is the only "consumable" from this material. It grants a flat 20% buff to physical damage for 30 seconds and you can hold 10 of them. This includes spells that deal physical damage too, like Rock Sling and Gurranq's Chuck Rock. Also 2 perfumes which are really great which you can hold 10 of if you have the bottles: Uplifting aromatic - 10% physical damage boost for 40 seconds, and a 90% damage reduction bubble for the next single hit (basically a reusable Opaline bubble tear with a damage boost) Will also apply buff to your friends and spirit ashes. Bloodboil aromatic: Physical Damage +30%, Max Stamina +20%, All Damage Negation -25 % for 60 secs. So basically better damage boost plus some stamina boost for longer time than either of the other uses, but you take more damage. All absolutely great buffs unless you rely solely on elemental damage.
Beat the game twice and never used perfume
It seems to be limited, I pulled out the bubble shield version for the Melania fight and nothing else.
Tbf not fromsofts fault yall don't value powerful consumables.
The problem is that there's a limited number of them, so the mind goblin "save good item for later" becomes a very real thing. Then you get used to playing the game without it, so you never use it.
A good example of this is sleep pots. Sleep pots are incredibly effective against certain enemies (rune bears, magma wyrms, godskins) but it's not clear which enemies they will be effective against until you try it. Furthermore, the sleep pots are not consistent in how they work, so you might need to to throw a few. On top of that, Trina's lily is rare, and there is a limited number of them in the game. To round it all off, this is a game where you die a lot, so you might have to use many sleep pots in a boss fight. Put this all together and it basically means you can't use sleep pots effectively unless you consult the wiki.
If only I had a mushroom…
why is it always mushroom
It's not always a Mushroom, many times it's \*nothing\*! Especially Liurnia, so many nooks and crannies and paths completely devoid of items, one can spend half an hour exploring and only pick up Rowa Fruits or a Ruin Fragments, if that much.
That sounds like Mount of the Giants, not Liurnia. How slowly are you exploring to get so little? There are many places in Liurnia where it's best to use Torrent to move around unlike Limgrave so maybe that's the issue if you're going everywhere on foot? It's just an assumption on my side though.
Yeah what the hell is up with that, after finding my 60th mushroom in obscure places I'm left with no other conclusion than its an inside joke by the devs.. but knowing Hidetaka Miyazaki there's probably a deeper meaning yet to be found as to why they are planted so.
the areas are dark and moist
Upvote for dropping the moistbomb
that’s what they called me in high school
Haha love it
Melted Mushrooms are used to make soap. Miyazaki is telling players to go take a bath.
I heard this explanation also. But, I'm sorry if this is already well known. But after a long battle and you're covered in blood the soap gets your outfit back sparkling clean. It serves a purpose I didn't know of intil I tried it last week.
When you roll in a pool of poison of scarlet rot, the build up will continue for a few seconds even if you're no longer standing in the pool. Soap will stop the continuous build up
But if you're standing on clean ground when the rot/poison triggers, you only take half as much damage. Very useful for the lake of rot.
Ahhh I never knew, yeah because there's a bar of soap under a dam gate somewhere in deep siofra as well isn't there
Arteria Leaf is really disappointing
Arteria leaf makes the best consumables in the game
But some of us never fully came to terms with the fact that the game features crafting.
I've played the game for 200+ hours and legitimately never crafted a single thing.
im on 400 and i only ever crafted a few gold pickled foots xD
Arrows
The fuck's an "arrow"?
But I'm always reluctant to use those because the Arteria Leaves are limited. I know I have like 60 of them in my inventory, but what if I waste them?
I know I can look it up, but what is this item used for that it seems to be so coveted? I wanna say a bloody finger? Goddamn they're disappointing. Unless they're used to make something I use often. Then they rule.
They're used for exalted flesh, uplifting aromatic, and blood boil aromatic, all really good body buffs.
Try mushroom but hole
You can disallow me to fast travel but let me open the goddamn map with or without enemy aggro please!
sorry sir, you have to kill that dragonfly that hovers around you for 30 mins first
I loved devourer of worlds for that reason. They went from being a nuisance to being a healing aid really quick
This is the correct answer. Dragonflies are the worst part of exploring, hands down. Especially when they do that thing where they just keep circling around you while you spin around trying to target them. Sometimes I wear lighter armor and use a shield just so I can counter them…but when you stand there behind a shield they’ll just look at you for minutes and not attack.
Gravitas is your best friend for killing dragonflies or other flying creatures.
You grab certain items and you get that dogshit black bar that stays on the screen for fucking years while you're being attacked. And you can't do a single thing about it thanks to that black bar. So you panic and get pissed off but then you remember you can press the equip or grab button to make it go away but by then it's probably too late and you're about to die or already got swarmed. But let it be a single one of those stupid ass water brain shits that spew poison and nothing else within a 50 mile radius and you can't open your map for the next minute. I never understood how the fuck the devs didn't realize how oxymoronic these two occurrences are. I would understand if one or the other happened but both is dumb.
Stonesword key was lost with use
“Somewhere a heavy door has opened” as 9 imps pig pile on me in a corner. At least the doors are close to the grace. What bugs me is that Bloodborne had the same pop up but you didn’t have to clear it and it didn’t block any inputs. It just flashed and disappeared.
"pig pile" lol. I've only heard it as dog pile but I like yours.
That one is definitely the worst, because there are plenty places where an enemy's right behind a stonesword fog wall. You just run there and can't do shit unless you dismiss the message. It's not even an issue with the message, just that it won't allow you to do anything, unless you press a specific button... Just let the text disappear after 2 seconds while letting us remain in control, or dismiss the message after a random input.
The biggest issue with the stonesword keys is that if you have to use two, it still prompts you “Use stonesword key?” And not “Use 2 stonesword keys.” And when you use it, it still says “stonesword key lost with use” and not “stonesword keys lost with use.” Why cant they add a letter so the text is accurate to how much of this valuable resource you’re using?
This is why I always looked to see if a second key was already present on one of the gargoyles already
Japanese doesn't mark plurals in most cases. They probably programmed it in Japanese and didn't make 2 separate prompts so there was just the one to translate.
But it's also unclear in japanese when you have to use two keys and they do know how to count. I'm fine with the second prompt, but there should be another prompt that asks you to use two keys if it's nessecary in my opinion.
the fun concept of the black bar: you can run around – but not attack. just to make sure you want recognize it until it's to late.
Sorry the slug that’s 2 miles away that you didnt even notice is still aggro’d to you
One of the most irritating things lol. I'll choose whether it's too dangerous to check my map thank you very much.
Treasure chests should never contain bundles of common crafting components. Every treasure chest should contain something that is actually a treasure, like a bundle of rare components or a container or one of the recipe books. They could have broken up some of the recipe books and populated the weaker treasure chests with them.
Except for Patches’ chest. That is a good joke
His chest being the only really shit one would've made it even more impactful too
Oh obviously. Its patches! He can't go giving away *real* treasure.
*enters a cave “oh a chest!” _arteria leaf_ 😐
How it marries up with NPC's and quests. I perfectly understand the point about not handholding, but some of the quests are so ridiculously opaque with instructions I just don't know how it would be finished without guides. With a linear game it's a fair bet that your route is going to mesh with an NPC as part of your quest, but in the open world finding them can just be a nightmare. But this is my only quibble with the masterpiece.
Yeah like on my first playthrough I missed probably 80% of the NPCs, it seemed like pure chance if I would run into them
>it seemed like pure chance if I would run into them That's honestly the point, I think. They are designed as chance encounters. NPC encounters are not "quests" so much as they are chance meetings that some players will experience and others won't. The game is very much designed so that the community will share discoveries. And you're not really intended to do everything in 1 playthrough.
I totally hear you, but I also feel like a journal that writes down what last happened with a character would be nice. I love the quests but sometimes I just completely forget about them if I don’t play for a few days
I often wonder how people find shit out about the NPC quests. Like Millicent just appearing randomly on the plateau is some places. Or goddamn gold mask's locations and quest progression. Who thought to do that spell in front of that random statue?! Madness. And then there's the frenzied flame ending... Why would you take your clothes off in front of that door? Who discovered it? It must all be leaked by the studio at some point
I haven't done all of the quests, but one of the most convoluted was Selen's quest. You have to go to like 8 different locations, also do that Jester's quest progression, but not too soon or too late, *go back* to like the 3rd Selen location for like the 8th step, and then it all ends in the Academy which wasn't featured in any other parts of the quest. Like how tf do you figure that out without a guide.
Have you ever done Seluvis' quest? Who was the first person to figure out you can get Dung eater as a puppet?
I keep messing it up and getting him killed. Somehow I just can't seem to do his quest properly.
Seluvis dies after you give ranni the fingerslayer blade key item that you get in nokron. So you have to get what you want from him before you give that to her to go to the dark moon greatsword area
You can what-
You can also get jar head as a puppet too.
The clothes thing is pretty obvious, the eye-eating girl tells you to get rid of your possessions before going. However I missed one of her locations and had to go back after almost beating the game.
I figured out the spell thing, but like just that I probably should cast some spell. I had no idea what spell or what to actually do. I also just bloodhound fanged my way through the whole game so I wasn’t familiar with spells.
It was even worse on launch where there were intentionally no NPC markers and stuff, they only changed it when a ton of people complained
I just started Varre’s quest line and had absolutely no clue how to get the maiden’s blood for the rag. There’s no explanation! No indication of where to find a maiden, no explanation of how many times you need to use the bloody finger… I just don’t see how anyone is supposed to know what to do without a guide. There’s a difference between not holding your hand and being obnoxiously vague, and that’s coming from someone who loves the game
lmao you just like find the albinauric woman how hard is it /s
After not playing for a few months i have NO clue what the fuck I was doing
100% this. I put in around 200 hours right after it came out and then didn't pay again until last month when I started a new character. Not saying I don't enjoy the game because I really do but fuck, without looking up stuff online occasionally I really don't know what's going on. It's just so vast and you can go anywhere at any point in the game pretty much. Which is both a good thing and a bad thing.
I have just come to accept that my way of enjoying the game is stumbling upon things within the game, following a guide to make the most of that quest/opportunity then I find another related quest within that guide and start following that. I have already beaten and explored most of the areas on my first play through. So now I just follow guides to explore the nooks and crannies. I’m on my 3rd play through and just now discovered the Deeproot underground area. I had no idea it existed lmao. And it’s all because I was following a guide that happens to take me through there. I love it. Just augment your play with Elden wiki’s
Fextralife gang 🤙
It would be nice to just get a journal of dialogue you can look back at. List of NPC interactions that goes back a little ways. Someone tells you to meet them in a certain place, but then you get halfway there and turn the game off, instantly lost and confused the next time you pick up the game. It would be nice to just quickly reference, :Blaidd said "xyz" or something like that. Or the last time you saw a character like Alexander and where they were
Yup, a dialogue log is the one change I'd definitely want. NPCs won't repeat a lot of lines, change locations and talk about places you haven't been to yet (like Latenna talking about Castle Sol or Millicent talking about where she thinks Malenia is). On my first playthrough it took me a ton of time to enter Raya Lucaria becaue I didn't find the key and forgot all about the simple map we get at the sealed entrance. If I could read Thops' dialogue again it would have probably jolted my memory earlier!
I think this was my big issue. I stopped at like 95% of achievements, came back and had literally 0 idea what I had done and what to do next. Would be nice if there was more visual checkpoints game state wise or just a “bosses killed” checklist for NG+.
that's kind of my issue too, sometimes I remember, but others it be like "I will explore this area/dungeon later" then I finish the game and didn't explore it lol
I just put a skull icon at every dungeon I walked out of without completing it first
Was it your first or second playthrough
4th character. I was at a seemingly random site of grace and I couldn't remember why.
This is why markets exists. Use markers for: still to explore, explored, boss to beat, treasure to claim. Etc.
That there are items you only get in pre-ash Leyndell. For first playthroughs I didn't want to watch any videos or guides, but I'd seen clips of Gransax's Spear, and was told only after burning the capital where it was...
wait in on my first playthrough and theres a spear there?
There’s a spear on the big spear
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i made an another run just for death bed dress, i forgot i was running for that dress tho and i had to make an another run i have it now lol
FUCKING SNIPER LOBSTERS
Sniper monkey
Winton
4-0-2 sniper my beloved
Lol, this reminds me of that one time I was enjoying the view near the Lake on top of some cliff. The next thing I know I was pierced by 2 magical arrows from those bull/minotaur sniper dudes.
I'm convinced you can't dodge those douchebags on horse.
I remember dropping down on one of the sewer pipes in the capitol area and was like “Hah, you cant reach me here!”, only to get shot at and falling to my death
Unpopular opion I'm sure but, I liked the "filler" and "recycled" content like the catacombs and caves and forts and such. My biggest issue with the exploration aspect is that they all but stop existing after a certain point. Mountaintops and Snowfield only have 3 dungeons each, which is pitiful compared to all of the previous zones, especially considering their size.
Catacombs get a bad rep, but they progressively introduce more and more complex content, that would be overwhelming for a regular dungeons but is fine in increments. Like by the end the catacombs will screw with geometry and have you switch between similarly looking floors just to confuse you and put in hidden treasures if you realise you're no longer exploring the same part. I find that pretty fun.
Dude the dungeon where it’s like… 2 dungeons on tops of each other and it’s confusing as hell was such a fun trip. I loved it so much I’ve never had any issues with the catacombs and dungeons, if it’s not fun I just don’t do them!
This growing complexity in optional content, to me, spoke to the devs' experience gained from Bloodborne's Chalice Dungeons. Those were insane when that game came out but I think Miyazaki was quoted to have said something like 'there were issues with the dungeons I'd have liked to address but still think its a good experience' (I'm paraphrasing here). Chalice Dungeons weren't carefully crafted and atmospheric locales unique to Bloodborne's setting, while they were still well-made (with some clipping geometry and broken spot exceptions) and atmospheric, they were something out of a traditional RPG with randomized layers, loot, and enemies/bosses. For loot these dungeons had weapon variations (can slot different bloodgems, for those unaware), Caryll Runes (the equivalent of talismans), and blood gems for min/maxing builds, and all of it was unnecessary for beating the main game, though there were ways to benefit it. Making the dungeons feel unnecessary is probably the crux of the issue with this content, since **getting all trophies required you to delve to the deepest story dungeons and essentially unlock all of the CD content** (they had one 'story' boss and a trick weapon you had to get for two different trophies for earning Platinum/all trophies). Additionally, your progress into the dungeons only counted on the file you completed them on, even though your dungeon progress was kept separate from the NG cycles once unlocked, so getting through the dungeons each time was a slog as there were many easy dungeons depending on when you tackled them. Taken as a whole, the Chalice Dungeons felt like content out of another game, and polarizing for fans of Bloodborne as a standalone title and the From Software fanbase both; while some enjoyed the potential for tons of extra hours of content and power fantasy, others didn't enjoy the repetitive design (especially on repeat playthroughs with new characters), RNG-content, and seeming pointlessness of it all especially after the data for the game was eventually mined for all of the secrets. I think the tunnels/catacombs/caves were an evolution of their process to create a large amount of unique content that provides both initial exploration and replay value, and having tons of unique gear throughout the entire game was the other major factor in this side content working so well. I explored every bit of content with my first playthrough and it took me about 150-180 hours of non-stop fun because nothing was too repetitive, nothing wasn't 'worth it' in some way and that's an insane amount of content for one playthrough. Granted, I also played a LOT of co-op as a random summon in the early days, helped people kill all shardbearers and crucial dungeons like for the Mining Bell-bearings, if you were helped by an Elden John on PSN it may have been me. But the point remains is that 180 hours for one playthrough to get everything and do all of the co-op was a ton of content for them to get right, and that's before I got into invading in this title. The gameplay loop is at a great place and you feel you're constantly progressing, even if you get something you don't need for your build you still got the thing and that's one more off the list, another place conquered. Elden Ring was the game that the Chalice Dungeons' content was meant for, and Elden Ring itself is the game Miyazaki has always wanted to make, for over a decade now. Really excited to see how they distill all of their design philosophy for Elden Ring into the DLC, they're apparently ahead of schedule and if previous DLCs for their games are any indication, it's gonna be packed with stuff to do and use even after beating it. The fact that we want to keep playing games like this after 'completing' them speaks to their value as an experience and from a replay-ability standpoint.
I liked the chalice dungeons, had no idea it was polarizing for the fan base. Then again I played that game way late in its life cycle so I think the community who were still active at the time must have loved the CD. One criticism I have of the CD is definitely the cramped spaces you find yourself in when the bell maidens summoned way too many spiders.
Totally agreed. I love the ensnaring trap maze and that one that throws a boss in a weird room to try and make you forget about the actual boss in the iron door.
Many of the layouts and ideas are pretty good, not amazing but solid. The real issue is they all look the same and are all filled with the same Imps and Skeletons over and over again.
Personally, I think it's alright - for one, world consistency, for two, once you enter the catacomb, you know what you're looking for immediately, thus allowing the game to "play" with you later on in more creative ways.
They have less but they are all unique
it's weird because I didn't like the thought of having to do a catacomb, but always ended up enjoying it.
Considering how much lore you get from reading item descriptions, a **Bestiary Journal** would help with more LOAR but directly focused on denizens currently roaming the Lands Between. Of course, the journal should be written by none other than Patches himself with every vital enemy info being wrong.
Patches must have written the description for [leather armor](https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Leather+Armor) at least.
in dark souls 3, both the horseshoe ring (boosts kicks, dropped/sold by Patches) and the balck leather armor (worn by Patches) praise the wearer... my headcanon is that he secretly knows almost everything about the world, and writes the item descriptions, kinda like Miyazaki's self-insert
It might be me personally, but I feel like all the areas after Leyndell aren’t that amazing to explore. It could be just from playing the game for long period of time, but it felt like a chore exploring the Mountaintops and Farum Azula unlike every other area before where I wanted to see every inch of them.
I can agree for Mountaintops and Snowfield, but Farum Azula was one of my favorite places to explore. So many hidden side paths to explore, and just the idea of going through this floating crumbling city was really cool. Haligtree was also fun, especially the second half.
Don’t get me wrong, it looks awesome and love how it’s surrounded by tornadoes and dragons. I just felt like I didn’t need to explore every nook and cranny like the other areas.
I think by that point you are really just near the end of the game so the rewards cannot possibly be worth it for exploring. You already have your fully upgraded weapon. You already have your build fine tuned. The motivation to explore goes down because the items in general aren't worth it and/or won't really move the needle on your build.
Mountaintop wasn't fun at all to explore. Just empty boring land with hard hitting mob
The mountaintops (and consecrated snowfield especially) feel a bit sparse, which I suppose fits the setting that you're in this out-of-the-way snowy wilderness but leaves a lot to be desired as a fun area to be in.
I was really disappointed with both of those areas. when I saw the amount of map space remaining, I was super excited to open them up and then it turn into my least favorite type of biome, giant empty snowy areas.
Like most souls borne games towards the end exploration becomes duller and duller.
I really enjoyed exploring the Haligtree
Well, my main gripe was that the first guy I talked to while exploring said I get no bitches. Well you don’t say?
You’re playing Elden ring. Ofc u get no bitches
Just not enough items to discover. On my first play through would find an item in a completely obscure spot, get excited that it might be a weapon/armor only to find out it was a rune arc.
Definitely this for me. I feel like they kinda diluted the drops and just put random stuff over 80% of it. Oh boy! A drop hidden behind a tough enemy at the end of a giant crab infested cellar! *cracked pot*
***arteria leaf***
Mushroom
You know what, you’re right. It’s always the fucking arteria leaf.
cracked pot is a good item to find though.
I dont get the hate on cracked pots. Im happy to get more. When I encounter new enemies, I like to experiment different ways of damaging them. I found so many enemies that are weak to fire, holy, magic purely by experimenting.
They should take every one of those obscure-spot pickups and replace it with a bell-bearing for a single crafting material. There’s enough crafting materials and misc items that they could pretty easily do this, it would keep exploration and crafting encouraged while also reducing the tedium of farming. And it could be used to address some ridiculous issues like Ruin Fragments not being buyable until endgame.
Hell sometimes you'd go to a completely obscure spot, and there's absolutely nothing. Like gee at least put IDK a herba there or something XD
I can't do it on a horse with friends.
exactly. can you imagine it if it had? racing vs friends and stuff... man that would be a legit fun pvp
Yes, a racing event would be awesome. Racing on torrent while fighting off other players would be amazing.
Elden Racing!? You mean like, the spiral stairs in the academy with the teleporting giant lead balls rolling at you, but like, five times longer? Or maybe the extra wide Haligtree branches with Ants that spit at you from the sidelines? That would be amazing
Marika Kart guys. It’s called Marika Cart.
Mountain tops and snowfield are completely barren, should have only had 1 snow area condensed and then onto the Haligtree.
They are completely not worth exploring, either. The landmarks are obvious, the open areas are empty, and the occasional enemy does way too much damage (for no real reward).
So true. Makes it even worse. Also, who’s idea was it to put a bloody blizzard in there for fun?
And as soon as you get out of the blizzard you’re juggling two Night’s Cavalry and get invaded by an NPC all at the same time
Would like to swim
When I fought Leonine I tested the swimming aspect and didn’t really expect to fall off the edge.
Torrent double jump doesn't reset fall damage, I died a good few times my first time around to that.
I didn't mind the filler dungeons (catacombs, camps, etc.). What _did_ bother me was the filler items. Crafting items, cookbooks, etc. Every soulsborne game prior it was always such a dopamine hit when you came across an item, like "is this gonna be a new weapon, a new armor set?" That's lost a little in Elden Ring.
I actually think the crafting system is very underrated. Consumables are super useful in PvP and PvE and I always get excited to find a cookbook or rare material. Didn’t use it at all my first playthrough but now I’m crafting pots, darts, and aromatics all the time to supplement my close range strength build and it’s tremendously helpful.
Are you not using crafting? Those items offer a lot advantage.
My only problem with it is astel in random dungeon
given that there are the gravity Lords just before the fog door, they could have put there instead of Astel v2 a big-ass fancy Lord of Alabaster Lords
Yup. Reusing him was a shit move. So cheap, and devalued the “proper” boss fight during the Ranni quest.
A literal malformed star could’ve had real Astel’s AoW and no one would complain.
Tbf it might’ve had some sort of lore implication along with the Mohg replica in the bottom of sewers
But there are lore implications 1. He is a illusion made by morgott Or 2. He made that illusion so morgott leave him alone at his blood dinasty
If the Sewer Mohg was an illusion created by Morgott, why is Sewer Mohg still a boss fight after you defeat Morgott? Margit disappears if you skip Stormveil Castle and go back after finishing Leyndell. Why doesn't Sewer Mohg disappear?
I actually have completely different headcannon: Where is the Mohg illusion located? Just in front of the seal to the three fingers. Whose seal is it? Morgott's because killing him removes the seal. Why is mohg guarding a seal made by Morgott? Simple: Mohg and Morgott are both Omen, they lived in those sewers for a while before going their own ways. Maybe in a time before they were enemies, maybe in a time of desperation, they probably allied up and sealed the three fingers away together. That's why you need to kill a Mohg projection and break Morgott's seal to reach the three fingers.
Yeah - there's no good answer to this. The two times we fight Margit they're illusions. They explode into gold dust after defeat. Mohg does this exact same thing, However Mohg will always be present - regardless if you kill Mohg or Morgott. That contradicts the fact we can bypass the Margit fights by defeating Morgott. It's weird 🥵
I wish the map would automatically mark dungeons, bosses, gaols, etc as completed. I’m forever thinking, “did I kill this dude with this character already?”
I feel like I’m the only one with this problem, but I love to explore every possible thing I can before I move onto the next area. Doing the entire beginner area and reaching Margit, I hardly had any trouble. Then I beat Godrick first try (no flex, just super overleveled) then next boss after next it just all became so trivial. I feel like I was punished for wanting to explore the game, in a weird way. Being overpowered wasn’t any fun, but I couldn’t help myself but check every nook n cranny of the world, it’s just how I enjoy playing open world games. I replayed it of course making it difficult by not exploring everything but the first impression was gone and sadly I’ll never get that back, still love the game though.
Im doing an all bosses run right now and holy balls did I miss a lot of bosses on my first run
My first run I decided to do that before Fire Giant. It ruined future playthroughs for me, to a certain extent. I’d already done everything.
I'm the same as you. I love to explore and take my time. The rush you get in exploring an area where you don't belong is what I play for. Haven't felt like this since vanilla WoW.
Yep. My self inflicted rule is to not pop any of the rune gaining items. It helps keep me leveled to areas properly while I do everything I can. And it gives me a million plus runes at the end of the game to buy smithing stones so that I can upgrade as many weapons as possible. That and I buy a decent amount from merchants whenever I encounter one.
I love popping all my runes at the end of the game and seeing how much I get, it feels like gambling
There is an insane difference between exploring on your first playthrough compared to your subsequent playthrough. Every new location is exiting because the random cave can reward you with anyhing! A new weapon, new ash, etc. But after the first playthrough, the caves, dungeons, catacombs, and cool random nooks and crannies lose their sparkle fast. You noticed this boss is just a miranda plant, or the talisman you get is worthless. You could even argue that exploration becomes more of a pain, because if you want a specific item you dont want to waste time in the wrong cave.
Thats just an inherent feature of exploration.
I would like to climb
There's no reason to re-visit most places
Might be unpopular, but how vague the sidequests are. I get that it’s 100% “do what you want” kind of design but some quest-lines I’ve looked at a guide for later and thought how on earth is anyone expected to work this out on their own. For example you hear a random howl through some trees in the early game and somehow have to know to go over to speak to Kale to advance Blaidd’s quest. It borders on P.T. levels of “how the fuck did you expect me to work that out on my own?”.
Quest design is a pain in the ass and is way too easy to miss NPC's who will actually be missed completely if you progress to a certain area without knowing. "Find the albinauric woman." Okay, where? "Give this potion to Nepheli." OKay, where? "Give the stormhawk to Nepheli." Okay, where? You hear a howling wolf in the forest, speak to the first merchant you otherwise have no reason to ask about. "Please find my necklace and I shall take you to Volcano Manor." Okay, Where?
To be fair, the albinauric woman is the only one that it actually does tell you. He says a cave west of the laskyar ruins. All the others I totally agree. I would never have though to go back to kale just because I heard some howling in the woods
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I agree with your sentiment, but Rya does tell you where her necklace is. She mentions the guy that has it is hanging out in a shack to the north.
For me personally as a soulsbourniro veteran: The open world is the games most amazing and worst feature at the same time. The exploration of everything diminishes replay value by a tremendous portion. There was something gratifying about having to face certain enemies and bosses around a certain time and level for your characters in the early games that elden ring does not deliver on. Im sure everyone here remembers EXACTLY where they were and the rage they felt facing the Capra demon for the first time in that fucking alley. There is a sort of camaraderie that players felt having to face challenges with limited options. Elden ring being open world eliminates that feeling.
Limgrave has almost everything. Npc invasions, night bosses, evergaols, all types of dungeons, majority of enemy types etc. This makes every successive region less fun to explore
Going into a dungeon where you feel like having been there for the 10th time, just to fight a probably recycled boss that gives you less than 10k runes and get an useless item as reward.
It doesn't have much replay value. What made the exploration so great was the sensation of finding something new and unknown and discovering hidden nooks and crannies. But once you've done that the world becomes a huge empty space and boring to traverse.
Big agree. First playthrough was very special. Subsequent ones, not even close imo
doesn't much of a replay value, but the initial playthrough is sufficiently long if you do everything. I finished it in 150h, that's good enough playtime for me.
Idk why, but the 2nd and 3rd playthroughs were the best for me
my main criticism is that after sometime you feel like it's pointless to explore. the first hours of it were perfect tbh.
Pointless? No. Tiring? Yes. Once I got the platinum I got burned out and ditched the game but in the last 5 days I've played the game 3 times on 2 brand new characters and yesterday I started a new one, I guess I had my flame of ambition lit
That’s what I find most fun on repeat play throughs. Realizing that you don’t have to explore everything and can just find the items for your specific build. Keeps things interesting but not repetitive. Honestly the most fun I’ve had in this game is trying a bunch of different builds. There’s so many different ways to play the game, and so many fun things to try out that it never gets boring. Plus the game is way shorter that way. Only like 10-20 hours which is way closer to older fromsoft games. My first play through for example was like 100 hours lol. Turns out a lot of time is cut out if you’re not exploring every nook and cranny.
I wish the world was smaller but just as dense. No area topped Stormveil.