T. Greg DoucetteGot bored with Marvel's Avengers, so decided to give Elden Ring a spin since so many folks have raved about it
Things are... not going well 😂
Chose a Bandit as my start class, because I figured I'm reasonably good at scouting and sniping from a distance
Did not expect a random tree sentinel on a horse to cleave me in half right in the beginning
So I'm 9 hours in as of last night. I'm at Level 20 so at least figured out how leveling up works.
But beyond that... no clue what I'm supposed to be doing.
I ventured toward Stormveil Castle, just to repeatedly get my ass kicked
Ventured elsewhere, just to repeatedly get my ass kicked
Finally moved a bit without dying, when OMG THOSE ROCKS ARE A MINI-BOSS
On the upside, I have thoroughly mastered the area right around the very beginning, b/c I've gone back there so many times to farm small bits of runes 😂
19 hours in. Spent several hours farming runes near the beast arena so I could get better gear and upgrade my stats.
Got past the first mini-boss in Stormveil.
Then resumed getting my ass kicked 🤦♂️
Howtf do people enjoy this game? 😂
Alright serious Elden Ring question: are there better weapons available to buy somewhere?
Or should I be focusing on gathering as many Smithing Stones as possible and upgrading the early stuff that I like?
Level 40 now. Took more time than I should have farming runes to boost endurance, then switched to a glass cannon / light build with dual-wield on daggers instead of a shield, and a +4 long bow on the side.
Still getting my ass kicked, but less often now 😂
Packing it up for the night so the Mrs can watch basketball
43 hours in now, Level 56. The mid-game is *much* more enjoyable once you can go for an hour or so without dying 😂
Just got ambushed in the Roundtable Hold and was very "wtf??"
But the new armor after killing that guy is nice ☠️
THERE IS A POPE TURTLE
Also just realized about 3 minutes ago that fire pots are reasonably effective AOE attacks
(I'd been struggling with group fights for *awhile,* y'all 😬)
So the weird deathbed lady was a traitor too eh?
Starting to think these Roundtable Hold folks are not on the level...
67 hours in, level 71, just now finding the cave where you get the bell bearing to buy unlimited low level smithing stones 🤦♂️
So does anyone actually understand wtf is going on, lore-wise?
Thus far I've killed off dragon-arm guy, weird slug-birthing lady, and fat dude on a tiny horse in the desert
There is now a shooting star that crashed and created a tunnel in Limgrave rather than obliterating the planet
I keep telling myself I'm going to take a break and go do something like another Far Cry game... but then keep logging back in to Elden Ring 😂
So I've been poking around Nakron, fought a ghost deer... but still haven't figured out what I'm actually supposed to be doing here
The rolling ball enemies in Nokstella are ridiculous
Level 91, 95 hours in. I was late getting to the Altus Plateau because I couldn't find the other half of that stupid f*cking medallion until I finally broke down and checked Google 🤦♂️
I'm now slightly over-leveled lol
I also just today found the bell bearing that lets me buy Smithing Stone [3], fixing a very long backlog. So alllllllll of my weapons have gone from like +5 to +14
Safe to assume Gideon is gonna be revealed as the Big Bad all along, right?
Admits to wanting to be an Elden Lord, but I'm the one hunting shard-bearers. Practically screams "twist ending"
Also don't know what's up with the red spirit thing at the end of the hall who is very rude when I disturb him 🤔
Me: ::beats bad guy::
::walks up to Erdtree::
::blocked by thorns::
::ponders options::
Ghost Lady: "Let's burn down the whole tree!"
Old lady at the Roundtable: "DO IT"
Me:
I think I've skipped a few steps in the level progression here, burning down the tree strikes me as endgame decision-making
As much as I'm enjoying Elden Ring, it would have benefited *mightily* from a quest log
Needless to say I missed a lot and ma backtracking before the tree-burning
Michael@greg_doucette You just need a pen and some paper. Voila! Homemade Quest Log!
@TacticalGrace_ I am glowering at you through the phone
@greg_doucette You love me really :D
Waterluvian@greg_doucette Oh that guy? He’s a real piece of %*^$.
@greg_doucette what weapons are you enjoying?
@waterluvian My primary is an Icerind Hatchet. I also keep Rogier's Rapier (I've got Glintblade Phalanx on it), and a plain flail for mines + skeletons
If I end up struggling with a boss, I'll switch to a light load with dual-wield of Keen Great Knife + Reduvia to try to bleed them out
@waterluvian I'd like to switch up to some other stuff but need to beef up strength stat a bit
@greg_doucette There’s lore that kind of explains them. They relate to the other interesting quicksilver-like enemies of the region.
Trey Roady@greg_doucette Welcome to Elden Ring. There's an involved explanation for everything, but it's hidden in all the little side dialog, item descriptions, etc.
A significant story experience (the most popular) involves finding a secret wall back behind a graveyard with little to no actual hint of it's existence. If you play blind you miss most of it.
A significant story experience (the most popular) involves finding a secret wall back behind a graveyard with little to no actual hint of it's existence. If you play blind you miss most of it.
@eccentriccog Great now I'm wondering if I missed this wall already 😂
@greg_doucette Probably, if you're in Nakron without the Good Boy's story. Unfreezing the stars is no point of no return.
That Anonymous CowardKilling the ghost deer, places the player into an endless nightmare of not being able to progress the game.
Bruce Woodrow@greg_doucette Do you need an intervention? 😂
@BruceWoodrow Probably 😂
Andy Lauber@greg_doucette
Is there a Tears of the Kingdom thread coming soon? I may have to finally get a Switch for that one.
Is there a Tears of the Kingdom thread coming soon? I may have to finally get a Switch for that one.
@andylauber I absolutely plan to get it at soon as it's released, and will definitely be sharing thoughts
@greg_doucette Maybe it did obliterate the planet and the remainder of the game is but a dream. You can never know for sure with Miyazaki.
The crater thingy and whatever may or may not be related to it is one of my favourite parts of the game.
Damnit I’ve been a whole year sober and I think I might have to go play it again now.
@greg_doucette It's the same deal as with the lore in Destiny 2. Whatever sounds good at the time, slathered in a layer of stupid words, laziness, and thinly veiled theft of far better fantasy writers work.
Steve's Place@greg_doucette I just looked at the wiki. The game reveals the lore through clues and informative AI. If the lore were well-known, it looks like it would be a bit of a spoiler.
@stevesplace I'm been avoiding any wikis b/c I don't want to spoil anything, but have to admit trying to piece everything together has me mightily confused on some points 😂
@greg_doucette I'm writing one. It has an element like this. Your posts are alpha testing the concept.
It's definitely planned confusion. I guess, if you figure out the lore, shhhhhh. 😁
@greg_doucette All Souls games are like that. They have a concrete lore but it’s esoteric and not handed to you. That being said, I found ER to be the most enigmatic. I think Bloodborne has the most clear lore of any of them, but basically took a team of historians to figure out.
Thesleeping@greg_doucette
VaatiVidya has some really in depth and cool videos about elden ring lore.
https://m.youtube.com/user/vaatividya
I tend to follow a game route guide on fextralife to make sure I don't miss stuff like the item that allows you to get low level stones for upgrades.
VaatiVidya
I make videos on the games by From Software. Elden Ring, Armored Core, Dark Souls, Demon's Souls, Bloodborne & Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice! Lore, new gameplay, secrets, and storytelling. I try to hold every upload to a certain standard. I emphasise quality over quantity and I don't want to clog up your feed with mediocre videos. I try my best to upload about one video per week. ==================== -This channel is supported primarily through https://www.patreon.com/vaatividya ==================== Business-only Email below. Please do not send lore theories to my email.
@greg_doucette I really love how the game rewards exploration and doesn’t want to take your hand and bring you on a tour.
Dark Souls has two named sections hidden behind multiple illusory walls in the corner of a swamp. The game goes out of its way to hide content from the player… something most studios would balk at.
@waterluvian I'm somehow very deep in like 3 different quest lines, and pretty sure I'm not supposed to be in 2 of them at all. Exploration has had its tradeoffs 😬
BiohazardI loved Elden Ring, and played through to the end, but my one big complaint is the lack of a quest log. It pretty much made a second screen mandatory for me.
I know some folks feel like it improves the game, but I never did agree with that. But even with that gripe I still had a great time.
Me taking a break from stubbornly trying to kill the Tree Sentinel early: “I know you’ll curse me but I just can’t help but need a warm hug right now.”
@greg_doucette I preferred mages for those. You got to stand at a distance and blast away while some paladin (or whatever) healed you. Add pizza and coffee and it's a lifestyle! 😁
@stevesplace I have not done much experimentation with the spirits, I've relied on the wolves or demi-humans to draw attention
@greg_doucette Mages die a lot, but they are powerful, so you're useful in group attacks, but sometimes grinding is difficult. They need healers, so don't rely on them without one. See: Mages die a lot.
Pointy end of the arrows go toward the enemy.
Jeff_the_Geek@greg_doucette i've survived on just wild strikes alone with my axe to the same level. Cleaves through the most groups like butter, especially if I get my ashes to take aggro
@Jeff_the_Geek I need to play around more with Ashes of War. The only one I use regular is the on Rogier's sword that does the 4 floating glint knives
@greg_doucette Should have clarified that meant Spirit Ashes for summons. The ashes of war I use are on my axe and give me wild strikes
(why does everything have to be called ash-something?!?)
@greg_doucette of all the game tropes, being attacked somewhere that the game spent hours teaching you is safe is one of my favourites.
@waterluvian I knew something was up when the lighting was off, but yeah that was an experience