Elden Ring - Shadow of the Erdtree Expansion Announced

[Alshie]

I also think upgrading your weapon early doors can give you a much bigger damage bump than stats. So I went with weapon upgrade to increase damage and put stat points into vigor and endurance initially. 

[Kryptonian]

I’m about 7 hours in now and it seems inevitable I’m copying my previous build  

 

Went and got the Flamberge too as I was galloping around Caelid and wasn’t feeling the samurai sword I found.

 

Did both Leonnie(?) Misbegotten and the Tree Sentinel first time but Godrick took about 10-20 tries until the pattern sunk in. I’m now wandering a bit aimlessly so need to get a plan.

 

Oh, armour seems hard to come by - I’m sure I had loads of options when I played at launch but now have only had a commoners robe for my body - I’ve left other stuff off to keep my equipped load light but have only had 1 of each for the other slots too, disregarding shops.

[Ste Pickford]

10 minutes ago, Kryptonian said:

I’m about 7 hours in now and it seems inevitable I’m copying my previous build  

 

Went and got the Flamberge too as I was galloping around Caelid and wasn’t feeling the samurai sword I found.

 

Did both Leonnie(?) Misbegotten and the Tree Sentinel first time but Godrick took about 10-20 tries until the pattern sunk in. I’m now wandering a bit aimlessly so need to get a plan.

 

Oh, armour seems hard to come by - I’m sure I had loads of options when I played at launch but now have only had a commoners robe for my body - I’ve left other stuff off to keep my equipped load light but have only had 1 of each for the other slots too, disregarding shops.

 

I remember being quite disappointed that there was no good armour appearing for ages.  Neither upgrades in terms of stats (which Souls games are always a bit stingy with) or looking good either (which is the whole point of the game).  I remember the first set of interesting armour I found was in the middle of the second main dungeon (The Academy in Liurnia), and from then on you start finding good armour fairly regularly.  It's just pretty sparse in the early part of the game.

[Kryptonian]

Just now, Ste Pickford said:

I remember the first set of interesting armour I found was in the middle of the second main dungeon (The Academy in Liurnia), and from then on you start finding good armour fairly regularly.  It's just pretty sparse in the early part of the game.

 

That's my next destination I think, I'm skirting around the edges of it at the moment but might be heading up a cliffside/ravine place which I'm pretty sure isn't the right way. I don't want to look stuff up despite getting quite far on last time but my half remembered bits and pieces might cause me more problems...

[grounded_dreams]

1 hour ago, Alshie said:

i am about 24 hours in and I am still using my Lordsworn Greatsword that I got early doors. 
 

Also a vagabond but instead of a shield I now dual wield giant swords - it’s great fun. 
 

Primarily I have upgraded endurance so I can do a jump attack and several big swings. I also needed the equip load for 2 large swords.  My weapons scale with strength so have dumped loads in there also. 
 

I binned the halberd and have a bow as a secondary for distance. For ages I had to keep that unequipped to keep me below heavy though. 
 

I have a few items I found along the way that help with some stat boosts - won’t say more than that as I know some consider that spoilers!

 

I found it useful to watch a few YouTube vids on builds to see where I wanted to end up before starting this run - not following a guide as such but just a ‘here’s how you can end up’ and getting a help in where to focus. 

 

 

I just upgraded the Lordsworn Great sword at the smithing table in the Church of Elleh area. But looks like I could only upgrade it so far to +3. Assume I need other resources or find a different smithng table to carry on.

Haven't discovered any bows yet in Limgrave, but hopefully will soon, likely will have to upgrade dexterity to use one.

[Alshie]

1 hour ago, grounded_dreams said:

 

 

I just upgraded the Lordsworn Great sword at the smithing table in the Church of Elleh area. But looks like I could only upgrade it so far to +3. Assume I need other resources or find a different smithng table to carry on.

Haven't discovered any bows yet in Limgrave, but hopefully will soon, likely will have to upgrade dexterity to use one.

Yeah, I went with the minimum amount of dexterity I needed and also levelled intelligence by a couple so I could cast a basic distance spell. 
 

I think +3 is the max you can level a weapon until you find other things. 
 

Echoing other comments about armour - I’m still in my default as nothing I’ve found has been interesting but I’m just at the Academy so hopefully will get some new gear. 

[Kryptonian]

Just done Magma Wyrm Makar first go wearing a shirt. I’m a bit puzzled that I’m having no problem with stuff that was *hard* when playing at launch. The gargoyles will be the ultimate test I reckon

[memories]

After all the game of the year award and rave reviews but despite me not really getting on with the Souls games and Bloodbourne I picked this up a few weeks ago and finally started this last night.

 

I've picked a priest type guy and did the little tutorial type area and have came out to the open world.

 

Did a bit of exploring and I'm getting fucked left, right and centre.

 

Decided to follow the light direction as the game basically says thats the critical path but I'm still getting fucked over.

 

I so want to like these games as the world's look in incredible.

 

Any tips and starter advice greatly appreciated before this ends up in trading and I piss myself off for just not getting these types of games.

 

[Qazimod]

6 minutes ago, memories said:

After all the game of the year award and rave reviews but despite me not really getting on with the Souls games and Bloodbourne I picked this up a few weeks ago and finally started this last night.

 

I've picked a priest type guy and did the little tutorial type area and have came out to the open world.

 

Did a bit of exploring and I'm getting fucked left, right and centre.

 

Decided to follow the light direction as the game basically says thats the critical path but I'm still getting fucked over.

 

I so want to like these games as the world's look in incredible.

 

Any tips and starter advice greatly appreciated before this ends up in trading and I piss myself off for just not getting these types of games.

 

Don’t push yourself too far at the beginning, because it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Try and get one of the regular soldier types in a one on one scenario so that you can at least get used to how they attack. Get a feel for how many rolls and attacks you can do with a full stamina bar, and try and get used to your limits without looking up at the stamina bar all of the time. Also look at your stats and keep in mind how much experience you need for your next level; it’s okay to double back if you’re ready to level up. Vitality and Endurance are both great for giving you a bit more of a chance of survival, whilst your Strength, Dexterity etc. are for specialising in particular weapons and offensive abilities.

 

If combat’s getting a bit much, exploration is an option. Use the custom markers on the map to denote areas where you’re getting fucked over, because you’ll know that you’re not ready for those areas yet. There are also little beacon symbols you can see in the “incomplete” map - if you get to one of these, you can find a map fragment and uncover more of the map. You may sometimes feel like your choices in the open world are limited to three or four encounters that are difficult for different reasons - in those situations you may just have to plug away at the least annoying one, but learning encounters always pays off.

 

If all else fails, tell us where you’re having trouble and we can try and help out.  I still think that it’s a kinder introduction to From’s action RPGs when compared to Soulsborne - and it’s awesome if more people are getting into it - but it’s still no pushover.

[memories]

I am right back at the start basically as I teleported to the Grace when you come out the building and there is a guy there.

 

I've been going 1 on 1 with some soldiers and managing them alright, a bit off to the right of that start area where it's in old ruins and some dogs. I went down an underground tunnel and opened a chest only to be teleported off to a high level area. A Google got me out of that situation.

 

I then went to the left towards a beach area where what looked like a samurai took me by surprise....back to the start.

 

Straight ahead...some big fuck on a horse one hit me...back to the start.

 

I then went forward and circled around big horse fuck and fought some more standard soldiers and went into a cave where a bunch of wolves....you guessed it...fucked me up.

 

Apologies for the lack of names, there is a lot to take in in this game.

 

I maybe trying to rush things too much, need to slow down and not treat it like a button masher.

[MrHendo]

51 minutes ago, memories said:

After all the game of the year award and rave reviews but despite me not really getting on with the Souls games and Bloodbourne I picked this up a few weeks ago and finally started this last night.

 

I've picked a priest type guy and did the little tutorial type area and have came out to the open world.

 

Did a bit of exploring and I'm getting fucked left, right and centre.

 

Decided to follow the light direction as the game basically says thats the critical path but I'm still getting fucked over.

 

I so want to like these games as the world's look in incredible.

 

Any tips and starter advice greatly appreciated before this ends up in trading and I piss myself off for just not getting these types of games.

 

From the moment you step outside into the actual world….

 

Ignore the dude on the horse. He will destroy you until you’ve levelled up a bit.

 

Get to the church and follow the merchant’s advice.

 

Get to the little destroyed army base to the north and go through all the dudes there one by one. There is a particularly nasty one with different armour so try and leave him till last.

The map piece is right there too so pick that up.

 

Once you’ve got the horse use it to get out of danger as much as you can. Make sure it’s assigned to a button you can easily press, rather than the quick select. I use up and Y.

 

Ignore where the light tells you to go to for now and explore as much of Limgrave as you can, basically to the east and south of the castle route.

Find all the sites of grace you can and the little catacombs and mini dungeons as they’re good for levelling up, but more importantly the items you need to upgrade weapons and spirit ashes. Pick up everything in these places, because they’re extremely useful.

 

Prioritise finding sites of grace and the map pieces so you can easily bounce around the map. Clear as much of Limgrave as you can before going to Stormveil. If the sky turns red, you’ve gone too far east, you will die.

[MrHendo]

Also, ignore dragons and giant trolls until you’ve levelled up a bit. The easiest dragon to fight first is slightly east of where you start and you’d need to be a bit stronger to take on that.

 

There is a good farming technique for new characters, I can dig out a video if it helps?

[memories]

4 minutes ago, MrHendo said:

From the moment you step outside into the actual world….

 

Ignore the dude on the horse. He will destroy you until you’ve levelled up a bit.

 

Get to the church and follow the merchant’s advice.

 

Get to the little destroyed army base to the north and go through all the dudes there one by one. There is a particularly nasty one with different armour so try and leave him till last.

The map piece is right there too so pick that up.

 

Once you’ve got the horse use it to get out of danger as much as you can. Make sure it’s assigned to a button you can easily press, rather than the quick select. I use up and Y.

 

Ignore where the light tells you to go to for now and explore as much of Limgrave as you can, basically to the east and south of the castle route.

Find all the sites of grace you can and the little catacombs and mini dungeons as they’re good for levelling up, but more importantly the items you need to upgrade weapons and spirit ashes. Pick up everything in these places, because they’re extremely useful.

 

Prioritise finding sites of grace and the map pieces so you can easily bounce around the map. Clear as much of Limgrave as you can before going to Stormveil. If the sky turns red, you’ve gone too far east, you will die.

Sounds good, thanks.

 

Where is the church😂

 

Also @Qazimodmentions checking stats and leveling up. I believe I need to meet someone before I can do that, where are they?

[MrHendo]

3 minutes ago, memories said:

Sounds good, thanks.

 

Where is the church😂

 

Also @Qazimodmentions checking stats and leveling up. I believe I need to meet someone before I can do that, where are they?

The church is the knackered building right by the bastard on the horse. Right in the middle of this map.

 

 

The only area you should explore and level grind is this:

 

 

The yellow square bits of where you can find the map pieces. 
 

I think you can start levelling up once you’ve found a few sites of grace. Unless you can do that from the off, I can’t remember. I do remember the horse comes after 3 grace sites or so.

[Hawklord]

Learn the Guard Counter move. Keep your shield up and as soon as you block an attack, hit R2 (or equivalent) to do a heavy attack. On weaker enemies this will stagger them (they'll fall to their knees) and you can then follow up with R1 for a (relatively) large critical damage hit. For stronger enemies, it may take a couple of counters to get them. It's way easier than trying to parry and will make life a little bit easier for you in the beginning.

 

Spoiler

 

As above, head East and South for your first explorations and avoid anything the looks big (horse guys, trolls etc). In this game there is no shame in running away and you won't be levelled up enough for those for a while.

 

But first run North through the "gate" until you get past the wolves that fall from the sky. There's a Golden Seed nearby and an NPC that you'll need to speak to sooner rather than later.

 

After a while, head back to the Chapel but fast travel there at night (or rest there at night) for another essential NPC

 

 

 

[Nimmel]

2 hours ago, memories said:

Any tips and starter advice greatly appreciated before this ends up in trading and I piss myself off for just not getting these types of games.

 

 

I'm sure most of the regular posters will disagree, but if you haven't got on with these games in the past and are struggling to get this one to click then I highly recommend going Magic and killing shit from distance and "cheating" by looking up good easy to obtain items and grinding zones so you can out level everything.

 

I had a fantastic time with the game doing the above!

 

Edit: This doesn't remove all the challenge by any means but makes the game far, far easier for a first run through. You can always do the melee cool kid stuff on a second play through!

 

[memories]

@MrHendo @Hawklord @Nimmel

 

Appreciate the advice, won't get a chance to be back to the game until Sunday but will take all this on board.

[Darwock]

It always felt like a monumental undertaking to start my second journey so I had been putting it off, but had nothing to watch on TV last night and so took a deep breath and jumped back in.

 

My main goal is to fix a couple of the early quests that went awry the first time, and I’m still trying to stay clear of walkthroughs. It’s a bit concerning that the map is already fully unlocked as it’s going to be very hard to track where I have already visited.

 

I do have one question regarding the Castle Morne quest:

 

Spoiler

Is there any way to prevent the death of the blind girl you first encounter on the path towards the castle? It seemed inevitable to me but I may have done something wrong.

 

[Darwock]

On 10/02/2023 at 05:33, memories said:

@MrHendo @Hawklord @Nimmel

 

Appreciate the advice, won't get a chance to be back to the game until Sunday but will take all this on board.

For me I always hide behind the biggest, sturdiest shield I can find. You don’t have to be cool to fight up close.

[Hawklord]

2 hours ago, Darwock said:

I do have one question regarding the Castle Morne quest:

 

  Hide contents

Is there any way to prevent the death of the blind girl you first encounter on the path towards the castle? It seemed inevitable to me but I may have done something wrong.

 

 

 

Spoiler

Nope, she needs to die to progress Hyetta's side quest and ultimately one of the alt endings

 

Quest spoiler

 

Spoiler

After she dies, her father invades you as Edgar the Revenger and drops one of the grapes that Hyetta needs for her to progress the Lord of Frenzy ending

 

 

[Darwock]

Thanks for that, no guilt for doing what I did last time then.

 

Something has already diverged though, as I didn’t meet a certain witch at the early grace point and haven’t met her at all yet.

 

Spoiler

The wolf ashes that she gave me in my first game were available to buy at the roundtable hold merchant, which I’m taking as a sign that I missed that encounter entirely. Not sure why, maybe because I went to the hold before going back to the church.

 

[Darwock]

How is this possible, I spent 500+ hours in this world on my first playthrough - I started my second two days ago and I’ve already found two new talismans and one new tomb. It’s mind boggling.

 

Slightly disappointing to have missed the tomb, because obviously I’m way over leveled for it now but still… wow.

[Hawklord]

On 12/02/2023 at 04:06, Darwock said:

Thanks for that, no guilt for doing what I did last time then.

 

Something has already diverged though, as I didn’t meet a certain witch at the early grace point and haven’t met her at all yet.

 

  Hide contents

The wolf ashes that she gave me in my first game were available to buy at the roundtable hold merchant, which I’m taking as a sign that I missed that encounter entirely. Not sure why, maybe because I went to the hold before going back to the church.

 

 

Yeah, I forget what the actual trigger is but you end up getting the ashes and bell at the Hold so that you don't get locked out

 

8 hours ago, Darwock said:

How is this possible, I spent 500+ hours in this world on my first playthrough - I started my second two days ago and I’ve already found two new talismans and one new tomb. It’s mind boggling.

 

Slightly disappointing to have missed the tomb, because obviously I’m way over leveled for it now but still… wow.

 

Lol, on my 5th playthrough I discovered

 

Spoiler

a Starcaller surrounded by gravity craters in the Weeping Peninsula. How I never found this area before baffles me. Possibly noped out on first run and then ignored due to lack of items on subsequent runs. I've also found other minor areas and catacombs elsewhere and just smile when I find them. As you say I'm usually over levelled by then  

 

[MrHendo]

I’d really like them to steal what Nintendo added to BotW - the map feature that shows your entire travel from start to finish. 
 

Also, because I clearly need to punish myself more, I’d like an option to see how many runes you’ve wasted since the character was started.

[Darwock]

Oh FFS, one of the things I wanted to do right this time around was when you first go to the hold, there’s this Rob Stark-lookin’ guy that tells you to find his servant/companion. When I played it first time, by just going through the game naturally he disappeared before I found her.

 

Thinking that was triggered by killing the wrong boss at the wrong time, I set about exploring the map as far as I possibly could without killing any bosses this time. I went as far north as Caria Manor, over to Sellia, down to Castle Morne - didn’t go into Stormveil at all (because I did that last time). Didn’t find her anywhere.

 

The only boss I have killed was Commander O’Neal (because I was already there, wanted to get that quest moving, and didn’t fancy making a return trip).

 

Just checked back in at the hold and Rob Stark’s fucking gone again. Something for my third playthrough then ><

 

Can anyone give me a heads up on what I did to make him leave, without actually spoiling the quest? Just so I don’t screw it up on the next one.

 

Also, to piss me off even further -

Spoiler

apparently when I decided to deliver Irina’s letter to her father at Castle Morne after going north a bit further, I broke the quest. I just fought my way up to see him and he’s not even there to receive it.

 

[thesnwmn]

25 minutes ago, Darwock said:

Oh FFS, one of the things I wanted to do right this time around was when you first go to the hold, there’s this Rob Stark-lookin’ guy that tells you to find his servant/companion. When I played it first time, by just going through the game naturally he disappeared before I found her.

 

Thinking that was triggered by killing the wrong boss at the wrong time, I set about exploring the map as far as I possibly could without killing any bosses this time. I went as far north as Caria Manor, over to Sellia, down to Castle Morne - didn’t go into Stormveil at all (because I did that last time). Didn’t find her anywhere.

 

The only boss I have killed was Commander O’Neal (because I was already there, wanted to get that quest moving, and didn’t fancy making a return trip).

 

Just checked back in at the hold and Rob Stark’s fucking gone again. Something for my third playthrough then ><

 

Can anyone give me a heads up on what I did to make him leave, without actually spoiling the quest? Just so I don’t screw it up on the next one.

 

Also, to piss me off even further -

  Hide contents

apparently when I decided to deliver Irina’s letter to her father at Castle Morne after going north a bit further, I broke the quest. I just fought my way up to see him and he’s not even there to receive it.

 

 

I've never played the game but because I like a mystery and to search...

 

If this is from Roundtable Hold, and the chap's name is Diallos, and he's looking for Lanya then it sounds like he moves around.

You need to find his companion which is where you'll find him.

 

And apparently you must not complete the Volcano Manor legacy dungeon before finding him there.

[Hawklord]

12 minutes ago, Darwock said:

Oh FFS, one of the things I wanted to do right this time around was when you first go to the hold, there’s this Rob Stark-lookin’ guy that tells you to find his servant/companion. When I played it first time, by just going through the game naturally he disappeared before I found her.

 

Thinking that was triggered by killing the wrong boss at the wrong time, I set about exploring the map as far as I possibly could without killing any bosses this time. I went as far north as Caria Manor, over to Sellia, down to Castle Morne - didn’t go into Stormveil at all (because I did that last time). Didn’t find her anywhere.

 

 

 

 

 

Spoiler

After you first speak to him at the Hold, he goes looking for her and can be found

 

Spoiler

near the Academy Gate Town SoG. He'll return to the Hold after you speak to him before moving to his next location (in the next spoiler)

 

Spoiler

If you miss him and get to Volcano Manor, he'll be there instead. You need to speak to him there before finishing the dungeon or his quest will break

 

 

 

 

 

12 minutes ago, Darwock said:

Also, to piss me off even further -

  Hide contents

apparently when I decided to deliver Irina’s letter to her father at Castle Morne after going north a bit further, I broke the quest. I just fought my way up to see him and he’s not even there to receive it.

 

 

Spoiler

Have you been to the Revenger's Shack and been invaded? If so, you've killed him and he won't be at the Castle any more. All you've missed is being able to summon him for the Castle boss.

 

[Darwock]

Regarding the Morne guy, yes I have been to that place and had that fight. Did not even register it was connected.

 

Spoiler

I assumed the revenger thing was a little easter egg story about a villain who murdered a load of guests with his badly cooked dumplings. That shack doesn’t seem like a place you would find someone of aristocracy.

In fact, aren’t there numerous examples of NPC invaders and their real forms both co-existing despite the death of one of them?

 

I hope it’s not always like that, or…

Spoiler

I’ve just killed Millicent too

 

[Hawklord]

22 minutes ago, Darwock said:

Regarding the Morne guy, yes I have been to that place and had that fight. Did not even register it was connected.

 

Spoiler

Yeah he's Edgar The Revenger. No idea how it's connected to the shack though apart from the name. But ultimately the Edger/Irina quest is to feed the Hyetta quest.

 

Lore(ish) spoiler

Spoiler

Irina has had her eyes removed and Edgar drop a Fingerprint Grape that you feed to Hyetta. During this quest you find out that Fingerprint Grapes are eyes. How Edgar came to be in possession of one of his daughter's eyes? Dunno. 

 

 

22 minutes ago, Darwock said:

 

I hope it’s not always like that, or…

  Hide contents

I’ve just killed Millicent too

 

Nah, that one doesn't affect her quest but her quest is also one of the easiest to mess up!

[memories]

Got a bit more time with this last Sunday and last night.

 

I just don't think these style of games are for me.

 

Been following the advice above. Took on the army camp and did some leveling up. Must have spent about 3 hour sneaking around like Solid Snake taking soldiers out and then running away as the all converged on me and laid waste. Rinse repeat with the added bonus of the main bastard joining in.

 

I then went and got the ghost dogs stuff from a double handed woman and went back, finally cleared the camp and set the dogs on the main guy and he was eventually taken down.

 

Decided to head south and killed various low level things and some leveling up on the way along with some more dieing and then got to some other army style camp, figured I could deal with this only for what I would call magic snipers kept taking me out from above. Binned that off and kept south until I reached the "Bridge of Sacrifice" I died in a hail of arrows. Fuck that.

 

Went back up north and then east, got another map piece whilst getting battered by wolf bears. I did manage to kill one by cheesing it, hiding down some stairs whilst it was at the top, hit and run, hit and run. Found some guy atop some ruins howling, Google told me to go way back to the first merchant guy in the church to learn a move and then go back. Did that and had a chat about some side mission, not a clue what he was taking about or where to go.

 

I then spent the rest of the evening basically just wandering about the place having the odd fight, occasionally being able to level up (I'm level 18 now) and generally getting killed loads.

 

I ended the night at the start of Limgrave tunnels after running through a small lake area to get to the entrance, I couldn't get further than the second enemy.

 

Oh and I found out you and the horse can't swim.

 

How the hell are you supposed to know what to do with anything in this game? It tells you fuck all and I seem to just be wandering about the place. The direction the lights from the Graces point as the critical path all seem to take me to points I'm just getting wasted at.

 

Will be going back for another few sessions but after trying Demon Souls, Bloodbourne and now this one I think it's a me thing. I just can't gel with the combat style of these games, waiting for attacks and defending, learning enemies moves etc just doesn't click for me.