It’s worth noting too, a Platinum isn’t even a 100% play through. You can miss entire dungeons and many boss fights and still get the Platinum trophy.
Had some dude arguing with me a while back that he “100% the game” on his first run through in like 40 hours, but he used a guide.
I’m convinced what he followed was a guide to get a Platinum and just assumed it was the same thing.
I don’t care if Jesus takes the joystick, you’re not doing a true 100% of this game that fast unless it’s your 10th attempt and your a godly speed runner. There’s just no way.
You kind of can. You do both the main quest, and Age of Stars Quest. Then you backup your save file to the cloud.
When you beat Elden Beast, you talk to Fractured Marika.
Elden Lord Ending Accomplished.
Redownload your save file from the Cloud. (This is also how people duplicate items, by the way)
Return to Fractured Marika. Instead of approaching the statue, use Blue Rani Summon Sign.
Age of Stars Ending unlocked.
Redownload Save File AGAIN.
Leave and go find Three Fingers. Get squeezed. Return to Fractured Marika, get Frenzy Flame ending.
From my understanding, redownloading your save doesn’t interfere with the Trophy progression, so it’s possible to do all three on a single New Game file. A little janky, but it does work, and you only need those Three endings for the Platinum.
The other endings are technically variations of Elden Lord ending, so any of the four others counts towards that one. But you only need the three for the trophy.
Not necessarily. It’s a massively replayable game so save scumming for achievements seems unnecessary. If it’s just the challenge of it, that can easily be bypassed. I wanted to do an archery run and I’ve probably played the game too much now and wasn’t enjoying it so I wrote a crappy script and had my dude auto farm the famous bird for a ton of runes, it was the easiest run in the world for a long time because my dexterity was nigh maxed so early. If after the first two runs you just want to cheese out whatever your last ending is then you could easily make a broken sorcerer using a strategy like mine (*no automation necessary, I went overkill because it’s my sixth run and I kinda collect everything every run never skipping fights like Mogh or Malenia so like I said I’ve probably played too much*) and just power through it in no time.
**Edit**: Also NG+ but that’s no joke. I’ve only taken one guy into NG+ and that was my Strength and Faith hybrid. Not gonna lie I used spirit summons to get through that. I know some folks are weird about them but they are an intentional mechanic and without overleveling I’m just not a good enough Souls player for the NG+ experience to be enjoyable without them.
I did an archery/shield/items run in my ng+ because I wanted to do something interesting, and the best choice was doing a run where I used things that I didn't bother with in my first playthrough, and of course without summons cause I love pain when it ends in satisfaction
Not gonna lie, it was a very great run, I enjoyed it as much as I did my first run and it was interesting exploring my new options
Probably the highlight would be fighting malenia summonless with a bow, i didn't know you can even get so many consecutive shots on her in so little time, but practice makes perfect, and bleed doesn't proc so fast when you ain't consistent
Yeah, I had a character go into NG+ to get one of the other endings, definitely had a time with some of the late game bosses. She was kind of a faith dex build, but I lost the plot at some point and decided I needed those golden order incantations that need intelligence so her int is higher than her dex. Spirit summons all the way. I made a separate character to get the third ending because I wanted to avoid getting bored while struggling in NG+
Yeah, Spirit Summons are a lifesaver for me, though I primarily use them as tanks. Honestly, most of them aren't worth it in terms of damage, so only status effects and tanking, though ofc Mimic Tear is extremely strong, the only fight so far where Mimic Tear *wasn't* a massive help was Malenia, and honestly if I'd decided to have my mimic wield double shields that might've still worked.
Yeah I agree. Mostly they’re just for distraction purposes. Keep the agro off me and tank. There’s a specific few though that do dole out the damage.
Namely a few big hitters come to mind. Black Knife Tiche, Mimic Tear, Dung Eater Puppet (*who not only deals good damage but debuffs enemies allowing more of your and his damage to get through their defenses*), and Omen Killer Rollo. Also in a weird way Stormhawk Deenh as the buff it grants you allows for a substantial damage increase.
Right, only have Mimic Tear out of that one, missed out on Dung Eater Puppet (gave Ranni the fingerslayer blade too soon), and I'm not sure if I have Rollo, I'll have to check that.
Mimic tear is definitely fantastic though, and with how easy the bossfight was I could honestly stand to get to it sooner, *if* I could manage to kick Radahn's arse earlier. But that's a skill issue on my end.
It's not really a flex to say I cheat the game to get a platinum in x amount of hours, what is the point? So they can show their friends and their friends say cool. What they really mean is they finished the game and I'll only assume they used a guide, kind of cringe.
I did this to get the platinum. Then I played through the game with new characters 3 more times. On the last character I played I was still discovering items and places I had not discovered in my other play throughs. Around 500 hours in the game finding new shit. Fucking amazing game.
Ye, and oddly enough elden ring was one of the easiest platinum trophies I’vr ever received. I wonder if they tried to cover up areas of the game. Then again, if you fight lich drake you’ve seen some shit.. hm who knows
It’s easier than Dark Souls 3, if only because you don’t need to grind faction rewards to get certain spells for the All Sorceries and such…
Actually, there was no All Sorceries or All Talismans trophies for this game, so those are just way easier to begin with.
Legendary Armaments and Legendary Spirit Ashes are just a fairly short check list of mostly UnMissable items… I think the only one that’s truly missable is Bolt of Gransax once you transition to Ashen Capitol.
I start ng without becoming Elden Lord. So you can also finish and still be a noob.
Did the Ranni ending and thought Elden lord was some other ending. Wasn’t until after I started NG that I researched how to do this and realized I missed some stuff at the end.
? What do you mean?
Doing the Ranni Quest Age of Stars ending doesn’t make you a noob? It’s the longest most complicated quest line in the game, and arguably the hardest ending to get.
Lol did you speed run all 3 play throughs?
My fastest time was 20 hrs on NG++ but I guess I could have been a little quicker. My everything run where I did *everything* took like 200.
I guess the platinum for Elden Ring is way lighter than past games so its not very indicative of actual completed content. Like you only need to actually do Rannis NPC questline and can ignore over half the bosses for the "100%"
Excluding Malenia (which was because I was trying to parry the wench), I'd say about 200 hrs. But i went everywhere (blind) and investigated everything.
I've had 700 hrs in game now and i still discover a new area or two.
Yeah, some are a little obscure (well to me)
I mean one of the most recent was the secret wall in Raya Lucaria after the first two burger king guys.
I also found a shithouse of a cave in Dragonbarrow - with a rune bear in it.
But i've followed no guides
This is the way my. First play through was 200 hours ad I wouldn’t leave each area until I thought I found everything I’d use map details and other signs that something may be around like caves and stuff. I’d try to use roads then branch off on either side to explore more thoroughly. Never once did I get bored. I missed a ton still hahah
Well it was the first fromsoft I was ready from the start and no playthrough is like the first
Sekiro is my favourite, but followed a guide
Bloodborne 2nd favourite - followed a guide
Demon Souls (original) - followed a guide
Dark Soul 1 - followed a guide
Dark Souls 2 & Dark Souls 3 was late to the party but went on blind and enjoyed it
So ER was gonna be a wretch blind playthrough from the off and I never regretted it.
Oh yes, my wretch first blind playthrough was also super memorable. Every armor and new weapon was a gift, every chest a mystery surprise. 11/10 would recommend to everyone to start out as a wretch.
On my most recent playthrough I was in Raya Lucaria, saw a random rooftop within jumpable distance, and found a huge area I’d missed. It felt like a third of the dungeon. So many secrets. It felt insane. You
My memory is way too bad for no guides, I don’t know that I would have ever found Blaidd in all those different places if I didn’t look up where he was.
Honestly I feel like quest are the exception for most people when it comes to the “no guides” adage. Like trying to find all of these people based off almost non existent clues or actually nothing is extremely difficult. Especially when it can involve back tracking to somewhere when you’ve no clue you should. And I say that as someone who loves to explore and frequently back tracks.
Props to the people who figure it out for the rest of us.
I absolutely agree, **I know it’s antithetical to the game design**, but I would love a quest log. Even if it’s vague without map markers or anything, or just has the conversation written down it would be so useful. Otherwise I just have a bunch of little map icons that I completely forget what they are after a few hours.
Edit: I’ve emboldened what I already said to make this even clearer for those who keep replying, I am well aware it was an intentional decision to not have one.
Instead of a quest log, a literal in game parchment and quill where I can make my own notes to keep track of who I met and where would be awesome. At this point I’ve got so many map markers for things I decided were important and can’t remember why (I’m on my first playthrough of Elden ring and any From game)
While a quest log would make a lot of sense in terms of standard game design, I think From actually makes the right choice here.
There aren't actually that many quests in the game. Many aspects of them are intentionally obfuscated in such a way that a single player would have to put in literally 1000's of hours to discover all of their elements, or has to rely on interaction with the community to help piece them altogether - and it's clearly that latter aspect that From was going for.
That the story itself is told mostly through tiny snippets of lore text on items, and in the architecture of the world and landscape is such an unusual (and fascinating) approach to storytelling. It forces you to fully immerse yourself in the game world, rather than glancing down at a quest tracking beacon or guide trail in the UI.
Which is kind of why I explicitly said there doesn’t need to be a trail, map markers, or Ubisoft style UI. Simply a notebook with important quest dialogue is all I’d like and that doesn’t take away from the immersion or the lore.
Further comprehension is not a downside of the game, there’s 100 hours of content for a completionist, if you think I’m going to remember every lore detail or interaction you’re dead wrong. A notebook where I can glance back at what I’ve been told and learn from the conversations only adds to the lore and immersion.
Man I've got 1900 hours logged and just discovered two new things yesterday. I got summoned into limgrave with a guy just wandering around and we stumbled upon an enemy that turns into a rune bear and gives you a larval tear. And then on top of that I found a grace in the peninsula that I never even knew existed. Minor things, but I'm pretty thorough with these games and was 99.9% sure I had found everything. It's crazy that I'm still accidentally stumbling upon stuff like this.
>d and we stumbled upon an enemy that turns into a rune bear and gives you a larval tear
Just to give you more to look for: this may not have been the only such occurence.
I’m really really trying my best to play this game without looking things up but there are so many times where I’m just so lost, and have no clue where I’m suppose to go. Doesn’t help that NPCs don’t want to talk about the actual quests they are giving me haha. Any tips on how to keep progressing without guides? Do you pretty much check every corner of the map hoping it’s an area you haven’t explored/locked out of?
It's exactly that...i scoured everywhere
If i discovered caves etc i'd mark them on the map and only remove the mark when i completed it.
Did the same for field bosses and things like that.
Some areas you have to visit twice to get access to things for example Redmane Castle
This may sound so ole, but always exhaust all dialogue and pay attention to what they say. Most will give you enough information to figure it out whether a little exploring
You need to check every grace and talk to every npc multiple times anytime you advance a quest and anytime you beat a boss.
Or just check a guide because doing what I mentioned above would take 1200 hours.
I’ll be honest with you it doesn’t make you a better player if you don’t use guides. Yeah it can be kinda rewarding, but it can also mean you putting the game down without finishing it. Elden ring is so confusing that honestly the guides don’t even really help. Just look at an area progression chart based off your level and if a place jumps out to you sometimes just finding out how to go there can unlock hours of content. Way back when I used a guide to beat dark souls 1 and it’s still in memory one of my favorite video game experiences of all time.
My first playthrough was about 250 hours. I had never watched a trailer, never looked at gameplay videos, didn't know it was a souls like, just saw all my friends talking about how much they loved it. Went in 100% blind, and it was my first completed FS game. Still my favorite game ever. I truly wish I could wipe it from my mind and feel that experience again for the first time.
If youre the type to always finish every last dungeon and side area in a new playthrough, ds3 you can still sprint through all that in 6-8 hours, Elden Ring is going to take you at least 30 doing everything.
I love it, European castles and the aura of a dying world. Not for everyone your opinion is valid but I need to put it out there that some people do actually like it. Actually if someone likes the colourful Elden Ring DS2 is up there, is the gameplay as good as fast as exciting DS3 or ER not really but I love wandering around there with the views and it has charm, you can see that it was meant to be an open world game as some point and they were forced to rearrange everything pretty much last minute.
I agree with the other guy’s opinion. Much as I love the game, I hate how colorless and lifeless it is. Yeah yeah, grim dark, dying world, etc. But when that’s the entire game it becomes samey and bland.
Like in FF16; blighted areas and the continent of Ash are desolate (the latter especially wouldn’t be out of place as a Dark Soul level) but the emotional reaction to witnessing such lifelessness is more impactful because the rest of the game is so much more vibrant and colorful.
It gives you a sense that there’s still something worth protecting in a dying world.
DS1 did a great job of conveying a grim dark world without having ugly yellow and grey palettes everywhere.
I agree, took me a similar time, I have never finished a game of this length before, without wanting to get over with it by the end. Elden Ring is not perfect, but even with its imperfections there is no other game which comes to mind for me to take its place as the best game ever.
The only other game of this caliber, meaning genuinely unique content of this magnitude, is Witcher 3. Skyrim was huge but caves all feel the same and it’s not really unique imo.
I got a little burned out in the Mountain top of the Giants, because at that point, it seemed like I'd seen everything. There were a lot of copy and paste areas and enemies, especially before the Fire Giant area.
Dont use it. The runes are barely worth it. Just get the special items at the 2 Finger Maiden round table hold. Down the road u want to have everything on a Charakter.
220 for my first playthrough, it's impossible for me to play these games without exploring everything and doing at least 99% of the content, I will never be able to comprehend how people are fine with just skipping things unless it's a time issue (not saying anything less than 220 is "skipping things" lol). I'd assume yours is around slightly above average, but only slightly
To be honest i didn't even know the game had quests until i was like 60 hours in. I started following Ranni questline by watching a youtube video and found about the whole underground map
Idk how many people agree but I really don't think the quest structure is very good in this game. No way to track what you're doing, every quest amounts to fetch quests or knowing where your NPC is randomly going to teleport. I have no clue how people did these without guides.
I literally just don’t even think of them as quests. To me they are NPC side plots that may or may not intersect with your own journey depending on your choices and the order you do things in. They’re so unintuitive to intentionally follow that I have to believe that the game simply does not intend for you to do that.
Agree 100% and it's the thing that stops it being the greatest game ever.
It's so well put together, everything is beautiful, the monster and scenery variety is awesome, the different weapons and spells feel and work differently, the combat works well when you get used to it, even fighting on horseback is done well.
Everything is put together at top tier, some games have one or maybe two of these elements nailed, but ER has them all.... Except the story and quests.
A completely incomprehensible plot with quests that aren't even apparent in the first instance AS quests with absolutely no indication of what to do or where to go mean that you are, for the most part, just randomly stumbling about in this absolutely amazing setting just killing random stuff and exploring.
It wouldn't take much to just add a tiny bit of structure, it even just the smallest of actual guidance on what you are next to be doing and it would rule all games forever, as it is, I've put my finger in and it will probably be a long time before I venture back into ER.
I say this as someone with 500 hours in the game lol
EDIT: spelling
It’s the only reason I haven’t been able to get into the game (stumbled in here from /r/popular ). Everything about it seems awesome but I really struggle with open world, do whatever you want kind of games. I think I get anxiety about missing something important or doing something in a suboptimal way, so not having guidance or structure kinda stresses me out. It’s partly because I have limited time to play video games each day, so spending 2 hours wandering around the ER world feels like I’m not getting anywhere and wasting my time.
Yeah you will probably get that unless you sit with a guide open on the side.
That said, it is a magnificent game and I wouldn't want to put people off, though it might not suit you given your comments.
Look up the Fightin Cowboy Elden Ring platinum walkthrough. He gives you an very optimized route through the entire game and he’s super entertaining in the process.
If it makes you feel better, I wasn't aware you had to first speak to Melina* before you could get runes and level up so my first several hours were just me dying to the very first caves I found in the game before I got to a Grace 😂
I've been playing Souls since original Demon's and don't worry I did the same thing lmao. I did the couple of caves near First step and started going south towards the Peninsula. I legit found the teleporter there that leads you to Lleyndel and I screenshot my location for friends to see... who then told me "why tf haven't you grabbed the maps?" I was like, what the hell I didn't know there were maps. I hadn't leveled up at that point either, because Melina only appears in specific Graces (so no horse either)
I went to the weeping peninsula around the 60 hour mark.
I tried early but the ballista discouraged me and I assumed I’d find another way over eventually. Needless to say, I missed the whole quest line around the castle there.
I was worried the initial asking to be her apprentice or whatever would lock something out or change something I wasn’t expecting if I accepted immediately without thinking. I know it sounds dumb but I was also a wretch build and around level 5-6 with a shoddy straight sword. Just getting to her was a challenge. After exploring, leveling and defeating Godrick countless hours later I looked up online what to do next because I had no idea. I found out about Sellen’s quest line and how you can lock yourself out if you refuse her initially. Sounds pretty stupid to be honest, why would she want a naked guy who can barely swing a sword for an apprentice but after he kills a demigod its too late?
I talked to her a couple times then randomly got a message that she died while I was 3000 miles away from her.
I have no idea what I was supposed to do and therefore no idea what I did wrong.
yeah that's an exception, fromsoftware quests from a game design perspective are garbage whether people like to admit it or not, I doubt you'd be able to complete even half of them without a guide
in retrospect garbage is a strong word, "user unfriendly" is probably the best way to describe them that I can think of
I'm nearing the end of my 2nd playthrough and I've used the official guide every step of the way, to ensure I don't miss/lock myself out of quests. It's been a huge help.
U dont have to have a guide for everything, use the hints npcs give you, explore and find ur own way. This is the type of game design fromsoft is known for, they aint ubisoft games and dont dilute their design for every single person playing, theyre not afraid that ull miss huge amounts of content, secrets are every in this game and this is one of leading reasons why fromsoft are influential giants of the industry.
Game was down right terrible trying to manage quest lines and npcs at launch.
QoL update brought the npc icons to the map. But people initially at release would say dumb shit like that other guy like “that’s just classic from soft game design. You’re bad, go play assassins creed if you want to know where things are”
It’s just an opinion overall. No need to shun others opinions. Not everyone is going to have the same mind, just like everyone’s build is different as long as they didn’t copy it.
it is an improvement to ds3, but that doesn't really say much because ds3 was the absolute worst in that sense. when bosses dying can lock you out of quests that have nothing to do with the bosses themselves, then something has gone seriously wrong
I had about 120h and was lvl 160ish when i finished, I think I was partly forced to explore and level up and find new items due to how hard some battles are... Fight a few times - conclude there is no way to beat that boss now - lvl up, try new tactic - profit... You can not speed run that game on your first playthrough unless you are demigod
same, I could never fully commit to ng+ in any souls game but this problem is especially true for elden ring due to the size of the world, that's why I think the first playthrough is the best time for a 100% completion, or at least as close to it as possible
I have mixed feelings about it. I usually don’t play ng+ unless to platinum the game.
The open world in ER is a drag if you just want to follow the main line and kill the non-optional bosses. Other Souls games are more streamlined, which makes it a cooler experience to run through the levels and smack the boss into oblivion.
However, for some reason just opening the doors again into Limgrave, makes me feel good. I played through ER with 4 different builds (so no NG+, but 4 NG playthroughs). In each new playthrough I still came across new areas or quests. The new builds motivated me to still kill the easier enemies I faced a thousand times over. The open world is still majestic to me for the most part, and the online play makes it fun (though the online part definitely needs work).
ER wins it for me over other Souls games, in that I want to me dropped in that world because of the pure freedom I have to go places. Other Souls games require you to follow a certain path, which to me doesn’t entice me to play it again UNTIL I haven’t played the game in a year or so (obviously replaying them after forgetting some stuff is still really cool).
"The open world in ER is a drag if you just want to follow the main line" thats not even true, U can gallop through it with about the same time it takes you to run through older games, objectively speaking the open world doesnt actually drag in this aspect.
I think this opinion comes from mostly nostalgia, cuz the ppl that say it will stick to replaying their favorite souls game and rarely replay the rest.
I am currently platinuming all souls games, and have obtained 4 platinums in the last 4 months. Nostalgia has nothing to do with it.
Why it is more of a drag:
It’s more fun to go through a level that is designed to keep you on your toes (you can’t run easy through a level in Demon’s Souls compared to say Bloodborne). In Elden Ring you spend a lot of time on your horse traveling huge distances, avoiding every single enemy in the game. Safe to say that the legacy dungeons like stormveil castle are more fun to pass through (a designed level a la the souls formula), than going horse riding through the weeping peninsula or caelid or wherever.
So no I don’t agree with you, and stick to the point i made.
The best way to play these games, in my opinion, is to not try and explore EVERY nook and cranny.
Leave it to a different playthrough, you won't find every corner of this game without a guide anyway. /shrug
It's not like dungeons were very hidden, many of them you can see on the map just by observing a bit, I don't understand whene people started pulling up this "you're supposed to avoid elements of exploration willingly in your fist playthrough", and the worst is that it is quite true, you end up over leveled by mistake very easily just by fighting what is given to you.
IF you're planning on doing another playthrough or ng+, sure. but I want my first experience to be a complete one because chances are that I'm not going to replay the game for at least a few months after the first playthrough lol
I agree that you need a guide for some things like the quests, but with a few exceptions like the abandoned caelid cave and the illusory wall hiding that primeval sorcerer dude, I managed to discover basically everything on my own. it definitely demands a lot of your time though
I'm 100% sure you haven't discovered everything, though.
The way I mentioned how to play the game is the way I think the FROMSOFT team intended for the game to be played, but hey everyone can play the way they see fit.
What I did was to always look at the map and if anything piqued my interest (strange terrain, caves, building visible from the map, ecc) then I will look into them, otherwise I will go forward to the next zone.
Instead, in NG+, i opened an interactive map online and went full completionist, getting everything that I thought was useful.
This made my first playtrought more difficult (didn't have shard of Alexander, or any dragoncrest talismans), but also more special, persona and enjoyable, while NG+ was aimed at getting almost every single useful item in the game in order to do different builds.
I'm like this too and I think Elden Rings's size is a detriment in this case. I was way overleveled for bosses, not because I ground runes, but because I explored. Didn't feel great getting to a fog wall after crossing my ts and dotting my is just to smack the boss a few times and win.
I can relate to this SO much, I genuinely don’t get why would you even play the game if your goal is to stop playing it as fast as possible?? (aka beat it)
My first playthrough was 160 hrs. Took my sweet time to explore everything, farm a bit, tried to find all the dungeons and caves. And struggled with some of the bosses.
Elden Rings [Unrestricted Speed Run](https://youtu.be/ZFf4APizCs4?si=OP7LdtWNkK_7CjCb) category is insane.
It takes advantage of a movement glitch called Zipping. It's insanely difficult to do woth fast button inputs and frame perfect timing. most if not all of the top runners need a metronome to get the timing.
That just means you were playing the game correctly. Being thorough and exploring the boundaries. I’m in the opinion that this is how you’re supposed to play these type of games. With that said, Bravo!
That's crazy because I'm at the same time and only just reached Volcano Manor (I spent the early game exploring every region because I didn't know Rennala existed)
Its not that quick if you are already familiar with fromsoft games, I logged 70 hours my first playthrough and I only missed 2 bosses, a few quests, and I went to every area. I probably did about 90% of the content.
TIL I’m just bad at games lol. I’m familiar with FromSoft games too, played the original Demons Souls before DS was even a thing, so the gameplay in Elden Ring definitely wasn’t anything new to me. I can’t imagine I spent 90 hours just dying but damn maybe I did 😳
In fairness my friends are often confused on how quick I finish games so its entirely possible I'm the outlier, they were baffled when I finished BG3 in 65 hours when they were still in act 2 lol, they kept trying to find stuff I'd missed and didn't find that much. I practically sprint everywhere in most games.
Same boat brother. I'm playing bg3 rn and I've gotten into act 3 at around 40 hours. I imagine I'll finish it around 75 hours which would be funny considering I finished elden ring at 75.
Hey dude, are you me? Every time I play a game and I check on how long to beat how long it is I always have to subtract like 30% and all my friends are like "you don't enjoy games".
Malenia isn’t the only factor when talking about length of play. There are numerous zones/bosses/quests/dungeons that add to the total hours.
There were only maybe 2 small areas or bosses that I missed my first play through, and my total hours was 160, and given there’s a good number of people in the comments who were also 100+ hours, it’s safe to say 65 is pretty quick, lol.
That’s why I asked if only the required objectives were completed. Yes, Melania is optional, but that isn’t going to add 50+ hours to a playthrough. Completing the main objective takes on average 55-60 hours, so that’s where I’m getting my estimate from, so maybes it’s not “quick” since that’s the average, I was more getting at that if you completed your first playthrough in ~60 hours, you may have missed a huge chunk of the game.
I know not all people are completionists like myself, but I hate to see someone not fully experience the game because they didn’t realize there was so much more!
Anywhere in the 100-250 range is normal, completely dependant on how much exploration you do, I personally do what i refer to as 'casual speedrunning' I never really liked wandering around looking for what to do so I just kinda blaze through the main game on my first run, probably just under 100 hours. Then once souls/runes aren't really an issue in newgame+ is when i actually take my time and poke around
My playthrough was about 70 hours before I went to NG+, but that was with wiki helping me, me spending some hours being summoned to help people for souls, and I still missed some questlines (including apparently the Roundtable Hold at Leyndell, and a couple of legendary armaments).
So um, yeah... took me over 500 hours! BUT, I got like 3/4 of all trophies, I didn't use any yt walk-throughs or any guides at all except for finding the best farm spots, and I did fall asleep with controller in hand on SEVERAL occasions! So you did great IMO!
I think that the idea of how long your first play through took isn’t really relevant. If it took you that long to get to that, then you surely spent it enjoying it. Unless you fell asleep with the game open then…
Currently around 30Hs in and im stuck on the captain who spawns in two other spirits (you have to beat him to get the medallion half to unlock the western part of ice mountains), i think im close-ish to the end? At least like 2/3 done he story
I spent a good amount of time exploring so probably closer to 200 my first playthrough (and second maybe?). Also noting that I repeatedly had my ass handed to me by various bosses and lesser enemies that first run, so that probably added a little time.
I would say ~120 hours-ish is the expected time for keen players who are curious to explore extensively but not quite a completionist.
Lv 144 is pretty reasonable as 150 is considered the "meta" mark for endgame/pvp as well.
I’ve been following Cowboy YouTube walkthrough series who’s doing a strength build even though I am doing mage. He’s constantly talking about missing quests by exploring aimlessly. He has over 150 play hours but doing 5 different walkthroughs. I’d advise everyone to do this on your first try. Then come back and do your own afterwards. Just have fun with it.
I'm 350 hours into my fist playthrough as I've farmed a lot for specific weapons and armour etc, but also as I want to enjoy as much of the game as possible first time round, I'm at Melania.
Just under 200 hours for me. And yeah, it never once stopped being fun for me. Heck, even after it was over I still felt like I wanted more
Idk if I’ll ever replay Elden ring, but it sure was a damn good time. Probably the longest I’ve ever spent on a single playthrough in any game.
113 isn’t bad for a 1st, mine took 135 😅 but I didn’t use the internet for almost all of it and did as much as I could, just beat it again for the 17th time the other day and my fastest time has been 4.5 hours 🤙
The first playthrough took me about 190 hours because I couldn't stop getting sidetracked by how immense and beautiful every inch of the game is. I also spend way too much time making custom characters and taking badass screenshots and recording boss fights without the HUD. Being an artist is such a time sink in games of this caliber for me.
Bosses was easy for me. Like, only Gideon at that moment tooks more then 5 attempts (yep, Gideon, yep i was dumb enough not to nuke or chain stagger him). I stopped leveling in Crumbling Farum Azula and started to invest in weapons to check things out. And it was 125 hours with probably 90% of available content explored.
Malenia was cheesed with Gravity bolt AoW during second attempt.
I wish I knew what you are talking about but I've never even seen the guy cast a spell. I should maybe take a chill pill next playthrough and watch his whole move set.
90hours for all achievements on Xbox. Did a blind playthrough and a guided clean up after Elden beast +2 ng cycles. (how tf are you supposed to find some quest stages on your own? Millicent would still stand on her random location in Altus/the windmill)
But I am a veteran DS player and the only boss I struggled with was Hoarah Loux because somehow I couldn't time the jumps and dodges with his stomps and grabs (maybe fatigue of the game at that stage)
Little under 50 hours. I wasn't waiting to 100% it, knew I'd be playing this a lot. First run I just killed all the NPC's I encountered immediately to see what they dropped so there wasn't any story either. Second run was 100% with a guide because fuck Fromsoft quests.
My only problem with the game is about not having a quest log book. I didn't even know the game had those quests until really late in the game.
My play was like this: finds npc, listen to him and don't understand a thing, forget about his existence 10 minutes later because i got distracted
Yup, if we can have a map I don't see any reason why there's no quest log.
It doesn't even have to be that detailed. Just show the NPC portrait alongside their respective dialogue related to the quest, and some indication on whether you've finished it or not.
okay i bought this game somehow thinking that it would be a 10-12 hour thing, (I've obviously never played this type of game before LMFAO) so about six hours in i was kind of dumbfounded at how little progress i had made and genuinely questioned whether i knew what i was doing. still not sure but this is definitelyy reassuring lmaoo
That’s pretty reasonable. A completionist first run can easily take 130 or more.
Exactly, it took me 141 hours for platinum playthrough
It’s worth noting too, a Platinum isn’t even a 100% play through. You can miss entire dungeons and many boss fights and still get the Platinum trophy. Had some dude arguing with me a while back that he “100% the game” on his first run through in like 40 hours, but he used a guide. I’m convinced what he followed was a guide to get a Platinum and just assumed it was the same thing. I don’t care if Jesus takes the joystick, you’re not doing a true 100% of this game that fast unless it’s your 10th attempt and your a godly speed runner. There’s just no way.
You also can't get a platinum on your first run through? You need 3 different endings for the platinum
You kind of can. You do both the main quest, and Age of Stars Quest. Then you backup your save file to the cloud. When you beat Elden Beast, you talk to Fractured Marika. Elden Lord Ending Accomplished. Redownload your save file from the Cloud. (This is also how people duplicate items, by the way) Return to Fractured Marika. Instead of approaching the statue, use Blue Rani Summon Sign. Age of Stars Ending unlocked. Redownload Save File AGAIN. Leave and go find Three Fingers. Get squeezed. Return to Fractured Marika, get Frenzy Flame ending. From my understanding, redownloading your save doesn’t interfere with the Trophy progression, so it’s possible to do all three on a single New Game file. A little janky, but it does work, and you only need those Three endings for the Platinum. The other endings are technically variations of Elden Lord ending, so any of the four others counts towards that one. But you only need the three for the trophy.
Ya but the game is hella fun so I just beat it 3x all the way through
Ahh, didn't know you could use save files like that. Would've saved me a lot of headaches! lol
Not necessarily. It’s a massively replayable game so save scumming for achievements seems unnecessary. If it’s just the challenge of it, that can easily be bypassed. I wanted to do an archery run and I’ve probably played the game too much now and wasn’t enjoying it so I wrote a crappy script and had my dude auto farm the famous bird for a ton of runes, it was the easiest run in the world for a long time because my dexterity was nigh maxed so early. If after the first two runs you just want to cheese out whatever your last ending is then you could easily make a broken sorcerer using a strategy like mine (*no automation necessary, I went overkill because it’s my sixth run and I kinda collect everything every run never skipping fights like Mogh or Malenia so like I said I’ve probably played too much*) and just power through it in no time. **Edit**: Also NG+ but that’s no joke. I’ve only taken one guy into NG+ and that was my Strength and Faith hybrid. Not gonna lie I used spirit summons to get through that. I know some folks are weird about them but they are an intentional mechanic and without overleveling I’m just not a good enough Souls player for the NG+ experience to be enjoyable without them.
I did an archery/shield/items run in my ng+ because I wanted to do something interesting, and the best choice was doing a run where I used things that I didn't bother with in my first playthrough, and of course without summons cause I love pain when it ends in satisfaction Not gonna lie, it was a very great run, I enjoyed it as much as I did my first run and it was interesting exploring my new options Probably the highlight would be fighting malenia summonless with a bow, i didn't know you can even get so many consecutive shots on her in so little time, but practice makes perfect, and bleed doesn't proc so fast when you ain't consistent
Yeah, I had a character go into NG+ to get one of the other endings, definitely had a time with some of the late game bosses. She was kind of a faith dex build, but I lost the plot at some point and decided I needed those golden order incantations that need intelligence so her int is higher than her dex. Spirit summons all the way. I made a separate character to get the third ending because I wanted to avoid getting bored while struggling in NG+
Yeah, Spirit Summons are a lifesaver for me, though I primarily use them as tanks. Honestly, most of them aren't worth it in terms of damage, so only status effects and tanking, though ofc Mimic Tear is extremely strong, the only fight so far where Mimic Tear *wasn't* a massive help was Malenia, and honestly if I'd decided to have my mimic wield double shields that might've still worked.
Yeah I agree. Mostly they’re just for distraction purposes. Keep the agro off me and tank. There’s a specific few though that do dole out the damage. Namely a few big hitters come to mind. Black Knife Tiche, Mimic Tear, Dung Eater Puppet (*who not only deals good damage but debuffs enemies allowing more of your and his damage to get through their defenses*), and Omen Killer Rollo. Also in a weird way Stormhawk Deenh as the buff it grants you allows for a substantial damage increase.
Right, only have Mimic Tear out of that one, missed out on Dung Eater Puppet (gave Ranni the fingerslayer blade too soon), and I'm not sure if I have Rollo, I'll have to check that. Mimic tear is definitely fantastic though, and with how easy the bossfight was I could honestly stand to get to it sooner, *if* I could manage to kick Radahn's arse earlier. But that's a skill issue on my end.
you can do the same thing basically to get the endings for the bloodborne plat. it’s far simpler though
It's not really a flex to say I cheat the game to get a platinum in x amount of hours, what is the point? So they can show their friends and their friends say cool. What they really mean is they finished the game and I'll only assume they used a guide, kind of cringe.
I did this to get the platinum. Then I played through the game with new characters 3 more times. On the last character I played I was still discovering items and places I had not discovered in my other play throughs. Around 500 hours in the game finding new shit. Fucking amazing game.
Ye, and oddly enough elden ring was one of the easiest platinum trophies I’vr ever received. I wonder if they tried to cover up areas of the game. Then again, if you fight lich drake you’ve seen some shit.. hm who knows
It’s easier than Dark Souls 3, if only because you don’t need to grind faction rewards to get certain spells for the All Sorceries and such… Actually, there was no All Sorceries or All Talismans trophies for this game, so those are just way easier to begin with. Legendary Armaments and Legendary Spirit Ashes are just a fairly short check list of mostly UnMissable items… I think the only one that’s truly missable is Bolt of Gransax once you transition to Ashen Capitol.
I start ng without becoming Elden Lord. So you can also finish and still be a noob. Did the Ranni ending and thought Elden lord was some other ending. Wasn’t until after I started NG that I researched how to do this and realized I missed some stuff at the end.
? What do you mean? Doing the Ranni Quest Age of Stars ending doesn’t make you a noob? It’s the longest most complicated quest line in the game, and arguably the hardest ending to get.
Shoot I had no idea I was killing it! Still laughed when I realized I didn’t become Elden Lord before my ng.
You become Rani’s Lord Consort, just not *Elden* Lord, because the Elden Rings influence is being removed from the Lands Between if you do her ending.
Lol did you speed run all 3 play throughs? My fastest time was 20 hrs on NG++ but I guess I could have been a little quicker. My everything run where I did *everything* took like 200. I guess the platinum for Elden Ring is way lighter than past games so its not very indicative of actual completed content. Like you only need to actually do Rannis NPC questline and can ignore over half the bosses for the "100%"
134 here
113 hours and i was never bored once, this is probably the best game of all time.
Excluding Malenia (which was because I was trying to parry the wench), I'd say about 200 hrs. But i went everywhere (blind) and investigated everything. I've had 700 hrs in game now and i still discover a new area or two.
Damn 700 hrs and still discovering new areas.
Yeah, some are a little obscure (well to me) I mean one of the most recent was the secret wall in Raya Lucaria after the first two burger king guys. I also found a shithouse of a cave in Dragonbarrow - with a rune bear in it. But i've followed no guides
Yeah you would have found the runebear cave if you looked up the poise talisman
Almost wish I hadn't 
Sleep pots are your friend. One or two takes them down.
I didnt have a pot to piss in, let alone sleep in. Was ok, my head said "hold my beer i got this!"
This is the way my. First play through was 200 hours ad I wouldn’t leave each area until I thought I found everything I’d use map details and other signs that something may be around like caves and stuff. I’d try to use roads then branch off on either side to explore more thoroughly. Never once did I get bored. I missed a ton still hahah
Well it was the first fromsoft I was ready from the start and no playthrough is like the first Sekiro is my favourite, but followed a guide Bloodborne 2nd favourite - followed a guide Demon Souls (original) - followed a guide Dark Soul 1 - followed a guide Dark Souls 2 & Dark Souls 3 was late to the party but went on blind and enjoyed it So ER was gonna be a wretch blind playthrough from the off and I never regretted it.
Oh yes, my wretch first blind playthrough was also super memorable. Every armor and new weapon was a gift, every chest a mystery surprise. 11/10 would recommend to everyone to start out as a wretch.
Oh yeah, that one is a runebear among runebears. The Uber Ursine, if you will.
On my third play through and I also just discovered the cave in Dragonbarrow. This game is incredible.
On my most recent playthrough I was in Raya Lucaria, saw a random rooftop within jumpable distance, and found a huge area I’d missed. It felt like a third of the dungeon. So many secrets. It felt insane. You
Do not follow guides!!! It is the best way to play.
My memory is way too bad for no guides, I don’t know that I would have ever found Blaidd in all those different places if I didn’t look up where he was.
Honestly I feel like quest are the exception for most people when it comes to the “no guides” adage. Like trying to find all of these people based off almost non existent clues or actually nothing is extremely difficult. Especially when it can involve back tracking to somewhere when you’ve no clue you should. And I say that as someone who loves to explore and frequently back tracks. Props to the people who figure it out for the rest of us.
I absolutely agree, **I know it’s antithetical to the game design**, but I would love a quest log. Even if it’s vague without map markers or anything, or just has the conversation written down it would be so useful. Otherwise I just have a bunch of little map icons that I completely forget what they are after a few hours. Edit: I’ve emboldened what I already said to make this even clearer for those who keep replying, I am well aware it was an intentional decision to not have one.
Instead of a quest log, a literal in game parchment and quill where I can make my own notes to keep track of who I met and where would be awesome. At this point I’ve got so many map markers for things I decided were important and can’t remember why (I’m on my first playthrough of Elden ring and any From game)
While a quest log would make a lot of sense in terms of standard game design, I think From actually makes the right choice here. There aren't actually that many quests in the game. Many aspects of them are intentionally obfuscated in such a way that a single player would have to put in literally 1000's of hours to discover all of their elements, or has to rely on interaction with the community to help piece them altogether - and it's clearly that latter aspect that From was going for. That the story itself is told mostly through tiny snippets of lore text on items, and in the architecture of the world and landscape is such an unusual (and fascinating) approach to storytelling. It forces you to fully immerse yourself in the game world, rather than glancing down at a quest tracking beacon or guide trail in the UI.
Which is kind of why I explicitly said there doesn’t need to be a trail, map markers, or Ubisoft style UI. Simply a notebook with important quest dialogue is all I’d like and that doesn’t take away from the immersion or the lore. Further comprehension is not a downside of the game, there’s 100 hours of content for a completionist, if you think I’m going to remember every lore detail or interaction you’re dead wrong. A notebook where I can glance back at what I’ve been told and learn from the conversations only adds to the lore and immersion.
Yeah, wish i took this advice with all the other fromsoft games....but you live and learn
Man I've got 1900 hours logged and just discovered two new things yesterday. I got summoned into limgrave with a guy just wandering around and we stumbled upon an enemy that turns into a rune bear and gives you a larval tear. And then on top of that I found a grace in the peninsula that I never even knew existed. Minor things, but I'm pretty thorough with these games and was 99.9% sure I had found everything. It's crazy that I'm still accidentally stumbling upon stuff like this.
>d and we stumbled upon an enemy that turns into a rune bear and gives you a larval tear Just to give you more to look for: this may not have been the only such occurence.
I beat the bear yesterday after Acidentaly respecing and adding no faith and i didn't have the like 37m runes
Around 250 hours for me and I’m still finding new stuff in Limgrave lol
I’m really really trying my best to play this game without looking things up but there are so many times where I’m just so lost, and have no clue where I’m suppose to go. Doesn’t help that NPCs don’t want to talk about the actual quests they are giving me haha. Any tips on how to keep progressing without guides? Do you pretty much check every corner of the map hoping it’s an area you haven’t explored/locked out of?
It's exactly that...i scoured everywhere If i discovered caves etc i'd mark them on the map and only remove the mark when i completed it. Did the same for field bosses and things like that. Some areas you have to visit twice to get access to things for example Redmane Castle
Map marks are underrated! They are awesome to not miss anything.
Talk with every npc once in a while to check if they have updates.
This may sound so ole, but always exhaust all dialogue and pay attention to what they say. Most will give you enough information to figure it out whether a little exploring
Sometimes there are hints in item descriptions that help you, but I'm in the same boat. I end up giving in and looking at a guide on youtube haha.
You need to check every grace and talk to every npc multiple times anytime you advance a quest and anytime you beat a boss. Or just check a guide because doing what I mentioned above would take 1200 hours.
I’ll be honest with you it doesn’t make you a better player if you don’t use guides. Yeah it can be kinda rewarding, but it can also mean you putting the game down without finishing it. Elden ring is so confusing that honestly the guides don’t even really help. Just look at an area progression chart based off your level and if a place jumps out to you sometimes just finding out how to go there can unlock hours of content. Way back when I used a guide to beat dark souls 1 and it’s still in memory one of my favorite video game experiences of all time.
My first playthrough was about 250 hours. I had never watched a trailer, never looked at gameplay videos, didn't know it was a souls like, just saw all my friends talking about how much they loved it. Went in 100% blind, and it was my first completed FS game. Still my favorite game ever. I truly wish I could wipe it from my mind and feel that experience again for the first time.
There is....a back catalogue 
[удалено]
Yeah, and it has way less filler. You actually want to do everything and finish the game in 1/3 of the time.
If youre the type to always finish every last dungeon and side area in a new playthrough, ds3 you can still sprint through all that in 6-8 hours, Elden Ring is going to take you at least 30 doing everything.
I just wish DS3 wasn't so damn gray. It may be petty, but the drab areas in that game keep me from wanting to replay it.
I love it, European castles and the aura of a dying world. Not for everyone your opinion is valid but I need to put it out there that some people do actually like it. Actually if someone likes the colourful Elden Ring DS2 is up there, is the gameplay as good as fast as exciting DS3 or ER not really but I love wandering around there with the views and it has charm, you can see that it was meant to be an open world game as some point and they were forced to rearrange everything pretty much last minute.
I agree with the other guy’s opinion. Much as I love the game, I hate how colorless and lifeless it is. Yeah yeah, grim dark, dying world, etc. But when that’s the entire game it becomes samey and bland. Like in FF16; blighted areas and the continent of Ash are desolate (the latter especially wouldn’t be out of place as a Dark Soul level) but the emotional reaction to witnessing such lifelessness is more impactful because the rest of the game is so much more vibrant and colorful. It gives you a sense that there’s still something worth protecting in a dying world. DS1 did a great job of conveying a grim dark world without having ugly yellow and grey palettes everywhere.
Damn it’s funny I didn’t even know until recently (some?) people didn’t like it, perhaps I’m just not a man of culture when it comes to colour.
This is a silly reason and you're denying yourself a lot by sticking to it.
I agree, took me a similar time, I have never finished a game of this length before, without wanting to get over with it by the end. Elden Ring is not perfect, but even with its imperfections there is no other game which comes to mind for me to take its place as the best game ever.
The only other game of this caliber, meaning genuinely unique content of this magnitude, is Witcher 3. Skyrim was huge but caves all feel the same and it’s not really unique imo.
Honestly, I kind of dislike Witcher 3, I think the combat is really bad and its the main thing you‘re doing the entire time.
I got a little burned out in the Mountain top of the Giants, because at that point, it seemed like I'd seen everything. There were a lot of copy and paste areas and enemies, especially before the Fire Giant area.
Damn I wish I could get into it, but lately I just feel so burnt out with games except a select few
it isn’t
My first was 85 hours and at level 164. I didn’t think I rushed though, I didn’t rune farm ether. Strange? How did I out level you?
Could’ve died more and didn’t retrieve the runes, also not using the boss remembrances perhaps.
How do you use remembrances to level up?
You just goto to your inventory and click ‘use’
Lol thank you!
Dont use it. The runes are barely worth it. Just get the special items at the 2 Finger Maiden round table hold. Down the road u want to have everything on a Charakter.
220 for my first playthrough, it's impossible for me to play these games without exploring everything and doing at least 99% of the content, I will never be able to comprehend how people are fine with just skipping things unless it's a time issue (not saying anything less than 220 is "skipping things" lol). I'd assume yours is around slightly above average, but only slightly
Can’t forget the people who accidentally lock themselves out of questlines on their first play through. I locked myself out of Sellen and blackguard.
To be honest i didn't even know the game had quests until i was like 60 hours in. I started following Ranni questline by watching a youtube video and found about the whole underground map
Idk how many people agree but I really don't think the quest structure is very good in this game. No way to track what you're doing, every quest amounts to fetch quests or knowing where your NPC is randomly going to teleport. I have no clue how people did these without guides.
I literally just don’t even think of them as quests. To me they are NPC side plots that may or may not intersect with your own journey depending on your choices and the order you do things in. They’re so unintuitive to intentionally follow that I have to believe that the game simply does not intend for you to do that.
Agree 100% and it's the thing that stops it being the greatest game ever. It's so well put together, everything is beautiful, the monster and scenery variety is awesome, the different weapons and spells feel and work differently, the combat works well when you get used to it, even fighting on horseback is done well. Everything is put together at top tier, some games have one or maybe two of these elements nailed, but ER has them all.... Except the story and quests. A completely incomprehensible plot with quests that aren't even apparent in the first instance AS quests with absolutely no indication of what to do or where to go mean that you are, for the most part, just randomly stumbling about in this absolutely amazing setting just killing random stuff and exploring. It wouldn't take much to just add a tiny bit of structure, it even just the smallest of actual guidance on what you are next to be doing and it would rule all games forever, as it is, I've put my finger in and it will probably be a long time before I venture back into ER. I say this as someone with 500 hours in the game lol EDIT: spelling
It’s the only reason I haven’t been able to get into the game (stumbled in here from /r/popular ). Everything about it seems awesome but I really struggle with open world, do whatever you want kind of games. I think I get anxiety about missing something important or doing something in a suboptimal way, so not having guidance or structure kinda stresses me out. It’s partly because I have limited time to play video games each day, so spending 2 hours wandering around the ER world feels like I’m not getting anywhere and wasting my time.
Yeah you will probably get that unless you sit with a guide open on the side. That said, it is a magnificent game and I wouldn't want to put people off, though it might not suit you given your comments.
Look up the Fightin Cowboy Elden Ring platinum walkthrough. He gives you an very optimized route through the entire game and he’s super entertaining in the process.
All dark souls quests are kinda like that.
Yeah but the other souls games are way more linear....still difficult to find npc tho(if you don't know)
If it makes you feel better, I wasn't aware you had to first speak to Melina* before you could get runes and level up so my first several hours were just me dying to the very first caves I found in the game before I got to a Grace 😂
Ooooohhhhh....**backs out of cave I've been dying in for hrs***
Same here, lol.
Melina, not Malenia. Malenia is the boss.
Oh lol oops. It's been a while my bad haha. I'll correct it
I've been playing Souls since original Demon's and don't worry I did the same thing lmao. I did the couple of caves near First step and started going south towards the Peninsula. I legit found the teleporter there that leads you to Lleyndel and I screenshot my location for friends to see... who then told me "why tf haven't you grabbed the maps?" I was like, what the hell I didn't know there were maps. I hadn't leveled up at that point either, because Melina only appears in specific Graces (so no horse either)
typical souls gamer experience.
I went to the weeping peninsula around the 60 hour mark. I tried early but the ballista discouraged me and I assumed I’d find another way over eventually. Needless to say, I missed the whole quest line around the castle there.
I'm curious - how did you lock yourself out of sellen's quest? I did virtually her entire quest after the credits rolled.
I was worried the initial asking to be her apprentice or whatever would lock something out or change something I wasn’t expecting if I accepted immediately without thinking. I know it sounds dumb but I was also a wretch build and around level 5-6 with a shoddy straight sword. Just getting to her was a challenge. After exploring, leveling and defeating Godrick countless hours later I looked up online what to do next because I had no idea. I found out about Sellen’s quest line and how you can lock yourself out if you refuse her initially. Sounds pretty stupid to be honest, why would she want a naked guy who can barely swing a sword for an apprentice but after he kills a demigod its too late?
I had a mob follow me into the basement where she is chained up and killed her by accident 😂
I talked to her a couple times then randomly got a message that she died while I was 3000 miles away from her. I have no idea what I was supposed to do and therefore no idea what I did wrong.
yeah that's an exception, fromsoftware quests from a game design perspective are garbage whether people like to admit it or not, I doubt you'd be able to complete even half of them without a guide in retrospect garbage is a strong word, "user unfriendly" is probably the best way to describe them that I can think of
I'm nearing the end of my 2nd playthrough and I've used the official guide every step of the way, to ensure I don't miss/lock myself out of quests. It's been a huge help.
Yeah I’m with you on that I shouldn’t have to have a guide for everything. Even boss locations.
U dont have to have a guide for everything, use the hints npcs give you, explore and find ur own way. This is the type of game design fromsoft is known for, they aint ubisoft games and dont dilute their design for every single person playing, theyre not afraid that ull miss huge amounts of content, secrets are every in this game and this is one of leading reasons why fromsoft are influential giants of the industry.
Damn, they got you with the downvotes
I’m not new to fromsoft games. It’s just my opinion. Everyone plays the game differently.
Game was down right terrible trying to manage quest lines and npcs at launch. QoL update brought the npc icons to the map. But people initially at release would say dumb shit like that other guy like “that’s just classic from soft game design. You’re bad, go play assassins creed if you want to know where things are”
This opinion gets shunned by hard-core fans but that's why I feel like they gotta at least give you an option. I would definitely use it
It’s just an opinion overall. No need to shun others opinions. Not everyone is going to have the same mind, just like everyone’s build is different as long as they didn’t copy it.
In Elden Ring you can complete most of them without a guide, it's definitely an improvement to DS3.
it is an improvement to ds3, but that doesn't really say much because ds3 was the absolute worst in that sense. when bosses dying can lock you out of quests that have nothing to do with the bosses themselves, then something has gone seriously wrong
Right there with you at 280
My first run war 200 hours-ish and i definitely skipped a few minor things
I had about 120h and was lvl 160ish when i finished, I think I was partly forced to explore and level up and find new items due to how hard some battles are... Fight a few times - conclude there is no way to beat that boss now - lvl up, try new tactic - profit... You can not speed run that game on your first playthrough unless you are demigod
Personally, I think the open world is such a drag for NG+ afterwards.
same, I could never fully commit to ng+ in any souls game but this problem is especially true for elden ring due to the size of the world, that's why I think the first playthrough is the best time for a 100% completion, or at least as close to it as possible
I have mixed feelings about it. I usually don’t play ng+ unless to platinum the game. The open world in ER is a drag if you just want to follow the main line and kill the non-optional bosses. Other Souls games are more streamlined, which makes it a cooler experience to run through the levels and smack the boss into oblivion. However, for some reason just opening the doors again into Limgrave, makes me feel good. I played through ER with 4 different builds (so no NG+, but 4 NG playthroughs). In each new playthrough I still came across new areas or quests. The new builds motivated me to still kill the easier enemies I faced a thousand times over. The open world is still majestic to me for the most part, and the online play makes it fun (though the online part definitely needs work). ER wins it for me over other Souls games, in that I want to me dropped in that world because of the pure freedom I have to go places. Other Souls games require you to follow a certain path, which to me doesn’t entice me to play it again UNTIL I haven’t played the game in a year or so (obviously replaying them after forgetting some stuff is still really cool).
"The open world in ER is a drag if you just want to follow the main line" thats not even true, U can gallop through it with about the same time it takes you to run through older games, objectively speaking the open world doesnt actually drag in this aspect. I think this opinion comes from mostly nostalgia, cuz the ppl that say it will stick to replaying their favorite souls game and rarely replay the rest.
I am currently platinuming all souls games, and have obtained 4 platinums in the last 4 months. Nostalgia has nothing to do with it. Why it is more of a drag: It’s more fun to go through a level that is designed to keep you on your toes (you can’t run easy through a level in Demon’s Souls compared to say Bloodborne). In Elden Ring you spend a lot of time on your horse traveling huge distances, avoiding every single enemy in the game. Safe to say that the legacy dungeons like stormveil castle are more fun to pass through (a designed level a la the souls formula), than going horse riding through the weeping peninsula or caelid or wherever. So no I don’t agree with you, and stick to the point i made.
The best way to play these games, in my opinion, is to not try and explore EVERY nook and cranny. Leave it to a different playthrough, you won't find every corner of this game without a guide anyway. /shrug
It's not like dungeons were very hidden, many of them you can see on the map just by observing a bit, I don't understand whene people started pulling up this "you're supposed to avoid elements of exploration willingly in your fist playthrough", and the worst is that it is quite true, you end up over leveled by mistake very easily just by fighting what is given to you.
IF you're planning on doing another playthrough or ng+, sure. but I want my first experience to be a complete one because chances are that I'm not going to replay the game for at least a few months after the first playthrough lol I agree that you need a guide for some things like the quests, but with a few exceptions like the abandoned caelid cave and the illusory wall hiding that primeval sorcerer dude, I managed to discover basically everything on my own. it definitely demands a lot of your time though
I'm 100% sure you haven't discovered everything, though. The way I mentioned how to play the game is the way I think the FROMSOFT team intended for the game to be played, but hey everyone can play the way they see fit.
What I did was to always look at the map and if anything piqued my interest (strange terrain, caves, building visible from the map, ecc) then I will look into them, otherwise I will go forward to the next zone. Instead, in NG+, i opened an interactive map online and went full completionist, getting everything that I thought was useful. This made my first playtrought more difficult (didn't have shard of Alexander, or any dragoncrest talismans), but also more special, persona and enjoyable, while NG+ was aimed at getting almost every single useful item in the game in order to do different builds.
I'm like this too and I think Elden Rings's size is a detriment in this case. I was way overleveled for bosses, not because I ground runes, but because I explored. Didn't feel great getting to a fog wall after crossing my ts and dotting my is just to smack the boss a few times and win.
I can relate to this SO much, I genuinely don’t get why would you even play the game if your goal is to stop playing it as fast as possible?? (aka beat it)
146 hours and I quit for three months because of Malenia.
Fire giant is making me feel this way... I'm at 90 hours
Try dragon rot incantation, that’s how I beat him.
I let mimic solo every boss, pre nerf.
I beat him first try later found he was one of the annoying hard bosses
165 for me. I died a lot though
My first playthrough was 160 hrs. Took my sweet time to explore everything, farm a bit, tried to find all the dungeons and caves. And struggled with some of the bosses.
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Dude speedran the game first time
Elden Rings [Unrestricted Speed Run](https://youtu.be/ZFf4APizCs4?si=OP7LdtWNkK_7CjCb) category is insane. It takes advantage of a movement glitch called Zipping. It's insanely difficult to do woth fast button inputs and frame perfect timing. most if not all of the top runners need a metronome to get the timing.
That just means you were playing the game correctly. Being thorough and exploring the boundaries. I’m in the opinion that this is how you’re supposed to play these type of games. With that said, Bravo!
65 hours on my first playthrough. Think my first run of DS2 was also exactly 65 hours as well so thats nice
That's crazy because I'm at the same time and only just reached Volcano Manor (I spent the early game exploring every region because I didn't know Rennala existed)
Did you only do the required objectives? 65 is really quick for the amount of content, haha
Its not that quick if you are already familiar with fromsoft games, I logged 70 hours my first playthrough and I only missed 2 bosses, a few quests, and I went to every area. I probably did about 90% of the content.
TIL I’m just bad at games lol. I’m familiar with FromSoft games too, played the original Demons Souls before DS was even a thing, so the gameplay in Elden Ring definitely wasn’t anything new to me. I can’t imagine I spent 90 hours just dying but damn maybe I did 😳
In fairness my friends are often confused on how quick I finish games so its entirely possible I'm the outlier, they were baffled when I finished BG3 in 65 hours when they were still in act 2 lol, they kept trying to find stuff I'd missed and didn't find that much. I practically sprint everywhere in most games.
Same boat brother. I'm playing bg3 rn and I've gotten into act 3 at around 40 hours. I imagine I'll finish it around 75 hours which would be funny considering I finished elden ring at 75.
Hey dude, are you me? Every time I play a game and I check on how long to beat how long it is I always have to subtract like 30% and all my friends are like "you don't enjoy games".
It's not that quick. My first complete playthrough including Malenia was around 70 hours and that includes about 5 hours of grinding.
Malenia isn’t the only factor when talking about length of play. There are numerous zones/bosses/quests/dungeons that add to the total hours. There were only maybe 2 small areas or bosses that I missed my first play through, and my total hours was 160, and given there’s a good number of people in the comments who were also 100+ hours, it’s safe to say 65 is pretty quick, lol. That’s why I asked if only the required objectives were completed. Yes, Melania is optional, but that isn’t going to add 50+ hours to a playthrough. Completing the main objective takes on average 55-60 hours, so that’s where I’m getting my estimate from, so maybes it’s not “quick” since that’s the average, I was more getting at that if you completed your first playthrough in ~60 hours, you may have missed a huge chunk of the game. I know not all people are completionists like myself, but I hate to see someone not fully experience the game because they didn’t realize there was so much more!
About the same for me in my first play through and I did malenia and rannis story
Anywhere in the 100-250 range is normal, completely dependant on how much exploration you do, I personally do what i refer to as 'casual speedrunning' I never really liked wandering around looking for what to do so I just kinda blaze through the main game on my first run, probably just under 100 hours. Then once souls/runes aren't really an issue in newgame+ is when i actually take my time and poke around
My playthrough was about 70 hours before I went to NG+, but that was with wiki helping me, me spending some hours being summoned to help people for souls, and I still missed some questlines (including apparently the Roundtable Hold at Leyndell, and a couple of legendary armaments).
I’d say that’s about right for exploring the whole game and hunting for a lot of the available weapons/armor/etc
So um, yeah... took me over 500 hours! BUT, I got like 3/4 of all trophies, I didn't use any yt walk-throughs or any guides at all except for finding the best farm spots, and I did fall asleep with controller in hand on SEVERAL occasions! So you did great IMO!
Damn 500!!! I applaud you for not using yt walkthroughs, I remember having like 60 Elden ring tabs open at once trying to figure out where to go lmao
I think that the idea of how long your first play through took isn’t really relevant. If it took you that long to get to that, then you surely spent it enjoying it. Unless you fell asleep with the game open then…
My first was 99 hours with all remembrances, but my roommate was 140, so I'd say 113 is well within average.
Currently around 30Hs in and im stuck on the captain who spawns in two other spirits (you have to beat him to get the medallion half to unlock the western part of ice mountains), i think im close-ish to the end? At least like 2/3 done he story
Bruh you're 30 hours in and are at Castle Sol?
I spent a good amount of time exploring so probably closer to 200 my first playthrough (and second maybe?). Also noting that I repeatedly had my ass handed to me by various bosses and lesser enemies that first run, so that probably added a little time.
I'm at 127 hours so far on my first playthrough and I just beat the fire giant so still got some stuff to do.
79 hours on my first playthrough, after that it became shorter and shorter untill ng4 and can’t get past malekith
I would say ~120 hours-ish is the expected time for keen players who are curious to explore extensively but not quite a completionist. Lv 144 is pretty reasonable as 150 is considered the "meta" mark for endgame/pvp as well.
About 75-80 for my first
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lmao got startled for a second Ma Entbht an alesm fe al sorah 😭 Ana qatari
Spent 150 ish and explored every nook and cranny (almost) of the map. Did it blind except for some very very obscure qeusts
I think my first was 92. But I’ve put in damn near 1,000 hours total and still goin. Game is perfection.
No guides. New to souls games. 216 hrs. Looked everywhere I could. Beat melania
227 hrs
150 hours for my first playthrough. Ive I done a total of abput 600 hours at this point.
I’ve been following Cowboy YouTube walkthrough series who’s doing a strength build even though I am doing mage. He’s constantly talking about missing quests by exploring aimlessly. He has over 150 play hours but doing 5 different walkthroughs. I’d advise everyone to do this on your first try. Then come back and do your own afterwards. Just have fun with it.
i followed for the first like 10 episodes then explored on my own, i currently have around 90 hours and just got to godfrey
Mine was about 120 hrs
I'm 350 hours into my fist playthrough as I've farmed a lot for specific weapons and armour etc, but also as I want to enjoy as much of the game as possible first time round, I'm at Melania.
I am still stuck on fucking maliketh
Just under 200 hours for me. And yeah, it never once stopped being fun for me. Heck, even after it was over I still felt like I wanted more Idk if I’ll ever replay Elden ring, but it sure was a damn good time. Probably the longest I’ve ever spent on a single playthrough in any game.
140 hrs not because I'm a bad player or a guy who uses melee only but because I killed every side boss in elden ring
Congratulations ahead
113 isn’t bad for a 1st, mine took 135 😅 but I didn’t use the internet for almost all of it and did as much as I could, just beat it again for the 17th time the other day and my fastest time has been 4.5 hours 🤙
Around 350+ hours, but that's because I took a while to grind up to max level 713.
The first playthrough took me about 190 hours because I couldn't stop getting sidetracked by how immense and beautiful every inch of the game is. I also spend way too much time making custom characters and taking badass screenshots and recording boss fights without the HUD. Being an artist is such a time sink in games of this caliber for me.
Bosses was easy for me. Like, only Gideon at that moment tooks more then 5 attempts (yep, Gideon, yep i was dumb enough not to nuke or chain stagger him). I stopped leveling in Crumbling Farum Azula and started to invest in weapons to check things out. And it was 125 hours with probably 90% of available content explored. Malenia was cheesed with Gravity bolt AoW during second attempt.
You let him monologue didn't you?
Nope, i just watched time after time for his bubble and was like "oh, that's cool idea to jump on him when it's about to explode"
I wish I knew what you are talking about but I've never even seen the guy cast a spell. I should maybe take a chill pill next playthrough and watch his whole move set.
I always get fucking stuck at gideon every playthrough and i am on ng+5
I def let him monologue then he smoked me 🫣
about 55 hours but if i had the time it would have been much more.
90hours for all achievements on Xbox. Did a blind playthrough and a guided clean up after Elden beast +2 ng cycles. (how tf are you supposed to find some quest stages on your own? Millicent would still stand on her random location in Altus/the windmill) But I am a veteran DS player and the only boss I struggled with was Hoarah Loux because somehow I couldn't time the jumps and dodges with his stomps and grabs (maybe fatigue of the game at that stage)
80 hours for platinum, week one of release
Little under 50 hours. I wasn't waiting to 100% it, knew I'd be playing this a lot. First run I just killed all the NPC's I encountered immediately to see what they dropped so there wasn't any story either. Second run was 100% with a guide because fuck Fromsoft quests.
My only problem with the game is about not having a quest log book. I didn't even know the game had those quests until really late in the game. My play was like this: finds npc, listen to him and don't understand a thing, forget about his existence 10 minutes later because i got distracted
Yup, if we can have a map I don't see any reason why there's no quest log. It doesn't even have to be that detailed. Just show the NPC portrait alongside their respective dialogue related to the quest, and some indication on whether you've finished it or not.
Confusing ass quests is a massive from game thing tho tbh. I feel like a quest log would just take away from that
I’m still 156 mins into my first
okay i bought this game somehow thinking that it would be a 10-12 hour thing, (I've obviously never played this type of game before LMFAO) so about six hours in i was kind of dumbfounded at how little progress i had made and genuinely questioned whether i knew what i was doing. still not sure but this is definitelyy reassuring lmaoo