General Gaming Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree - Information Thread, update (06/21): Fextralife guides posted

[TheLeon]

6 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

Where did you buy them?

I got a Bell Bearing item from a boss in a mine in the Altus Plateau. Brought that back to the Roundtable and gave it to the Twin merchant (whatever they’re called), which unlocked level 3 and 4 stones. I assume there’s another boss somewhere with another Bell Bearing that unlocks level 1 and 2 stones, and I’ve just missed them. 

[Keyser_Soze]

Speaking of Achievement stats: 68% beat Margit, 58% beat Godrick but 51% at Leonine Misbegotten. I wonder how many people just never went there after Margit.

[BloodyHell]

3 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

Speaking of Achievement stats: 68% beat Margit, 58% beat Godrick but 51% at Leonine Misbegotten. I wonder how many people just never went there after Margit.

I went there before Margit. I fought that guy a bunch of times before I beat him, I think I was a bit under leveled.

 

Was that Ps, Xbox, or pc stats?

[BloodyHell]

9 hours ago, TheLeon said:

I got a Bell Bearing item from a boss in a mine in the Altus Plateau. Brought that back to the Roundtable and gave it to the Twin merchant (whatever they’re called), which unlocked level 3 and 4 stones. I assume there’s another boss somewhere with another Bell Bearing that unlocks level 1 and 2 stones, and I’ve just missed them. 

Its the Chrystalain Cave in Liurna for 1 and 2. 

Bring blunt weapons, or colossal, because bladed weapons are useless.

[Keyser_Soze]

7 minutes ago, BloodyHell said:

I went there before Margit. I fought that guy a bunch of times before I beat him, I think I was a bit under leveled.

 

Was that Ps, Xbox, or pc stats?

 

Steamy

[Best]

12 hours ago, TheLeon said:

I got a Bell Bearing item from a boss in a mine in the Altus Plateau. Brought that back to the Roundtable and gave it to the Twin merchant (whatever they’re called), which unlocked level 3 and 4 stones. I assume there’s another boss somewhere with another Bell Bearing that unlocks level 1 and 2 stones, and I’ve just missed them. 

 

Ok. That will be difficult for me to find but no biggie. I'll just keep exploring the world for the stones. Thanks though.

[Keyser_Soze]

I thought about finally getting around to Godrick after 50 hours but instead took down another dragon

 

Spoiler

The one with the glintstone key

 

[Best]

Just now, Keyser_Soze said:

I thought about finally getting around to Godrick after 50 hours but instead took down another dragon

 

  Hide contents

The one with the glintstone key

 

 

I took him down last week. It actually was kinda tough but epic, too. 

[Bacon]

GRRM wrote Diallos because the character is unfinished 

[Bloodporne]

12 minutes ago, Bacon said:

GRRM wrote Diallos because the character is unfinished 

[Kal-El814]

So I’m somewhere between 12-15 hours in. It’s really quite good so far. I don’t have a ton to say about the usual From combat stuff, aside from them fact that I think it’s pretty well refined here in general though the open world does add some derp to the proceedings. Nothing bad, and mostly for the better. I have no idea what’s going on with the giants towing that carriage, for example, and that along with some of the bigger stuff on the map are really fun to encounter.

 

It’s interesting to me that they kept the rune retrieval mechanic in this game. Being able to fast travel almost 100% of the time means that you can just yeet yourself back to a site of grace and level up, shop, etc. Keeping a ton of runes on you at any one time seems like it would only happen if you’re self restricting or you just forgot. I appreciate that it’s a series hallmark and I get that it imparts a certain vibe, but the “stakes” in this game feel way lower than any other From game I played.

 

Normally I do a roly, quick character, but I’m doing sword and board this time and it’s fun. When I’ve summoned allies they’ve done some pretty wild spells and my character is almost as non-magic as you can get, so maybe I’ll do a caster at some point or respec when that becomes a thing.

 

Also not having an in-game quest tracker remains fucking dumb. I’m not looking for glowing arrows, but when it’s been 5+ hours since I was given a quest, it sucks to have to reference a wiki to remember if giving item X to NPC Y is because I’m supposed to be helping that character or hunting them. From games give a shitload of lore and info dumps on item descriptions and (formerly) loading screens, one more menu wouldn’t have killed them.

 

The signal / noise ratio for messages in this game is brutal, it’s hilarious.

[Xbob42]

5 minutes ago, Kal-El814 said:

It’s interesting to me that they kept the rune retrieval mechanic in this game. Being able to fast travel almost 100% of the time means that you can just yeet yourself back to a site of grace and level up, shop, etc. Keeping a ton of runes on you at any one time seems like it would only happen if you’re self restricting or you just forgot. I appreciate that it’s a series hallmark and I get that it imparts a certain vibe, but the “stakes” in this game feel way lower than any other From game I played.

Yeah you can't do that in dungeons. In dungeons fast travel is disabled. And there's a lot of dungeons.

[JPDunks4]

And a lot of sections in the open world, where you can fast travel, still space the Grace sites far enough away, where you maybe low on health, and high on runes, and fast traveling back will reset everything.  So you are still put in spots where its, do I go back, spend the runes and be safe but reset everything, or push forward and try to find the next Grace site.

 

 

I think I maybe near the end, but who knows with this game.  There are some side quests I need to wrap up, and some areas of the map I haven't figured out how to access yet, not sure if they are gated behind Side Quests.  Should be able to wrap things up this weekend though.

 

 

[Kal-El814]

6 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

Yeah you can't do that in dungeons. In dungeons fast travel is disabled. And there's a lot of dungeons.

 

I assume I’m not far in but most of the caves / dungeons / ruins I’ve been in have lasted maybe 20 minutes? I haven’t tried to fast travel out of them because they’ve ended before it occurred to me to try.

[Bacon]

15 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

Yeah you can't do that in dungeons. In dungeons fast travel is disabled. And there's a lot of dungeons.

Well, you can fast travel in Legacy Dungeons, and the rest of the dungeons are so small it hardly matters. I mean, you can just walk out of the dungeon whenever you want and fast travel, and once you beat the dungeon boss you can fast travel.

 

Dungeons do bosses in two ways. Type 1 has the boss behind a locked door at the start and Type 2 has the boss at the very end but there is a stake of marika outside of the boss room.  With type 1, every enemy is dead do you won't lose your runes on the way back. With Type 2 all you need to be able to do is not die to the boss before picking up your runes. So it is actually hard to lose a ton of runes. If you end up dying to regular mobs in the middle of a dungeon you'll make all your runes back having to kill them again. 

[JPDunks4]

Most of the runes I've lost, is typically me just forgetting to pick them up because I played Sekiro before this and never had to worry about picking up lost souls.

 

Some Legacy Dungeons I've lost big amounts trying to find grace sites and getting overrun, then dying trying to rush back.

[Keyser_Soze]

1 hour ago, best3444 said:

I took him down last week. It actually was kinda tough but epic, too. 

 

I thought the first one was harder. I knew what to do for this one so it only took maybe 3 or 4 tries.

 

25 minutes ago, Kal-El814 said:

Also not having an in-game quest tracker remains fucking dumb. I’m not looking for glowing arrows, but when it’s been 5+ hours since I was given a quest, it sucks to have to reference a wiki to remember if giving item X to NPC Y is because I’m supposed to be helping that character or hunting them. From games give a shitload of lore and info dumps on item descriptions and (formerly) loading screens, one more menu wouldn’t have killed them.

 

I like it this way. Things unfold organically and you get "oh wow" moments like my story earlier in the thread. Knowing what to do in this game makes it less fun to me.

[JPDunks4]

I agree we don't need quest trackers and all that, but maybe a "Journal", that just allows you to read previous dialogue from NPCs.  So you can go back in game and re-read hints or directions from quest givers.  I don't think that'd take away much from the experience, and would stop people from maybe needing to read up so much online.

 

I'm fine either way though, I've remembered most of the quests, and if need be, will look up what I feel I've missed.

[Kal-El814]

2 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

I like it this way. Things unfold organically and you get "oh wow" moments like my story earlier in the thread. Knowing what to do in this game makes it less fun to me.

 

This isn’t a matter of not knowing what to do, it’s a matter of recalling stuff that happened potentially 10+ hours ago. There’s got to be a medium somewhere between, “highlight quest items, pop up a message when you find one, track NPC locations magically on a map, put an exclamation mark over someone’s head, and have the UI track distance to your goal,” and the nothing we have here. Am I giving this weird character in a sack some turnips because Vampire Hunter D asked me to, or does the game just automatically know that’s what sackboy wants? Who knows, the game cannot be bothered to tell you, and that sucks.

[Bacon]

What I hate about side quests in this game is that, because the game is so large, you have no way of knowing when the point of no return is for these quests. With Dark Souls it is pretty easy, but with Elden Ring, shit has you completing tasks that change the ending of the game before you ever leave Liurnia of the Lakes which is the second zone. 

 

Do I want a quest tracker, no, but I wish I faced more lockouts. As in I wish side quests required you to progress more in the main quest before you can continue. It is crazy how overleveled you become because of this. I have no way of knowing what could end a side quest prematurely or even if there is some kind of time limit. I am in the Altus zone and nothing is challenging because side quests advanced me to over level 100. I one shot nearly every humanoid mob, and "field" bosses die in like 3 hits. 

 

The previous games were much better with how they did side quests in that to advance a side quest you needed to advance the MSQ as well. 

[Kal-El814]

I just categorically reject the notion that a quest log or a basic journal would make this game “easy” or something. The game doesn’t NEED a map, the fast travel points could just be names of locations grouped by area like previous From games. But they know that increasing the scope of the world to the extent that this one has been increased more or less necessitates it. Quests feel the same way to me, obviously the game doesn’t NEED a quest tracker or journal. But I ran into Roderika something like 45 minutes into my playthrough, so 12+ hours ago. Do I have any idea what she asked me for? No, I’d need to look at a wiki. She’s already asked me to talk to someone else, does that mean I did the initial thing? I don’t think so, I’d need to look at a wiki.

[Bacon]

When I say quest tracker I was thinking more or the game placing markers on your map telling you where to go. And actual journal would be great. Something like this:

 

Quote

 

- I met a girl named Roderika outside of Stormveil castle. I told her I would check in the on Chrysalids that have entered the castle. 

- I've found the Chrysalids and their memento. I should return to Roderika and inform her of their fate. 

- I was rewarded with a golden seed for my efforts. The Girl as decided to move on to the roundtable hold.

- The Blacksmith of the roundtable hold thinks Roderika would make a fine Spirit-Tuner. 

- I have brought up the subject with the girl, and she is willing to take up the trade. I'm sure the blacksmith would like to know. 

- Roderika has found her calling and has become a true Spirit-Tuner.

 

Thus ends Roderika's quest 

 

 

[Best]

39 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

I thought the first one was harder. I knew what to do for this one so it only took maybe 3 or 4 tries.

 

I feel the opposite 

[BloodyHell]

57 minutes ago, JPDunks4 said:

Most of the runes I've lost, is typically me just forgetting to pick them up because I played Sekiro before this and never had to worry about picking up lost souls.

 

Some Legacy Dungeons I've lost big amounts trying to find grace sites and getting overrun, then dying trying to rush back.

Yup, I lost 55k runes the other day doing a boss fight (I need 60k+ per level right now) because I forgot to pick up my ruins during a hectic battle. Thats the biggest amount I've lost so far. 

[BloodyHell]

35 minutes ago, Kal-El814 said:

I just categorically reject the notion that a quest log or a basic journal would make this game “easy” or something. The game doesn’t NEED a map, the fast travel points could just be names of locations grouped by area like previous From games. But they know that increasing the scope of the world to the extent that this one has been increased more or less necessitates it. Quests feel the same way to me, obviously the game doesn’t NEED a quest tracker or journal. But I ran into Roderika something like 45 minutes into my playthrough, so 12+ hours ago. Do I have any idea what she asked me for? No, I’d need to look at a wiki. She’s already asked me to talk to someone else, does that mean I did the initial thing? I don’t think so, I’d need to look at a wiki.

It wouldn't make it easy, and it wouldn't be bad in any way. But I also don't find I need it. 

But ever since ive fired it up, Ive been taking notes day by day about quests and bosses ive beaten, things ive found  etc, and I find taking my own notes made the game even more interesting. 

[Kal-El814]

5 minutes ago, BloodyHell said:

It wouldn't make it easy, and it wouldn't be bad in any way. But I also don't find I need it. 

But ever since ive fired it up, Ive been taking notes day by day about quests and bosses ive beaten, things ive found  etc, and I find taking my own notes made the game even more interesting. 

 

It would also help tease out signal from noise.

 

I was derping through the map and apparently heard what was supposed to be a unique noise. Later on I ran into an NPC i could talk to about the sound, who taught me a gesture I could use the next time I heard it. Nothing about the sound was remarked upon by the game as special in any way at all, I had no idea my character thought it was unique enough to remember and ask someone about, etc. Even if I was keeping an IRL journal for the game, nothing would have suggested that I should be tracking animal noises.

 

34 minutes ago, Bacon said:

When I say quest tracker I was thinking more or the game placing markers on your map telling you where to go. And actual journal would be great. Something like this:

 

If that's the order things should happen, for me she's already in the base and I've talked to her about the blacksmith, but I for sure have not found what she was looking for based on what you wrote. Weird.

[Bacon]

13 minutes ago, Kal-El814 said:

If that's the order things should happen, for me she's already in the base and I've talked to her about the blacksmith, but I for sure have not found what she was looking for based on what you wrote. Weird.

She'll move to the base on her own at some point. Not sure what makes her move, but I know for a fact you can't give her the memento after she moves. For me, she moved after I beat the main boss of Stormveil. I didn't even realize the memento I found was for her and I had not given it to her, but she moved to the hold after the boss. I reloaded a back up save I had right before I beat that boss and she was still there waiting for the memento and so I was able to finish every step of the quest. 

 

I found this on the wiki and this exact same thing happened to my brother

Quote

This happened to me:
1. Meet her in shack.
2. Told to find memento.
3. Go back to shack without memento. She's gone and there's a (golden) seed.
4. She's at the Roundtable.
5. Talk to the smith about her.
6. Go get the memento.
7. Talk to her. No dialog option for memento. Only training to become a spirit tuner.
8. Talk to smith about her becoming a spirit tuner.
9. Leave and come back. Talk to both her and smith. She's a spirit tuner now.
10. Still have memento in my inventory.

The first part leads me to believe the questline is bugged.

 

and then this can also happen

Quote

If you go around Margit and acquire the Liurnia of the Lakes Site of Grace early, it will auto complete the quest up to this point early and not require you to go get the Chrysalids' Memento

 

And shit like this is why I believe there will never be a journal because ever since Demon's Souls side quest have been this weird fucked up series of check marks that always seem half bugged and shit will sometime just progress. I think From is super lazy and because quests almost always have buggy or optional steps that only exist to expand on the lore, they will never make a journal because then they don't have to fix their shitty side quest system and the blame can be placed on the player. 

[Bacon]

34 minutes ago, Dimden said:

so it seems From expected sequence breaking and people doing things completely out of order

And maybe that is the case, but if you did this in any of their other games you get totally fucked out of ending changing side quests so players have had 5 of these game to understand this and now that might not true any more.  Doesn't matter that this is a different game, this is basically they same style of game they have always made since DeS. You learn the rules whatever your first game is and then all of those rules carry over to the next. Except for Elden Ring which is very, highly, annoying. 

[Kal-El814]

16 minutes ago, Bacon said:

And shit like this is why I believe there will never be a journal because ever since Demon's Souls side quest have been this weird fucked up series of check marks that always seem half bugged and shit will sometime just progress. I think From is super lazy and because quests almost always have buggy or optional steps that only exist to expand on the lore, they will never make a journal because then they don't have to fix their shitty side quest system and the blame can be placed on the player. 

 

This is part of what always confounds me about the reception of these games. The parts that are well done, and there are many, are exceptionally well done. But the “quests” have always sucked horrible ass, seem to somewhat regularly be bugged, and they’re almost all FedEx quests. Not only are they FedEx quests, but they regularly don’t include enough information for you to actually deliver on them deliberately.

[Bacon]

I mean, you won't see me defending how they do side quest progression. A map marker telling you exactly where to go in locations you have never visited isn't something I'd like, but I'd love if there were a clear and stable series of events to follow.. 

[BloodyHell]

1 hour ago, Bacon said:

She'll move to the base on her own at some point. Not sure what makes her move, but I know for a fact you can't give her the memento after she moves. For me, she moved after I beat the main boss of Stormveil. I didn't even realize the memento I found was for her and I had not given it to her, but she moved to the hold after the boss. I reloaded a back up save I had right before I beat that boss and she was still there waiting for the memento and so I was able to finish every step of the quest. 

 

I found this on the wiki and this exact same thing happened to my brother

 

and then this can also happen

 

And shit like this is why I believe there will never be a journal because ever since Demon's Souls side quest have been this weird fucked up series of check marks that always seem half bugged and shit will sometime just progress. I think From is super lazy and because quests almost always have buggy or optional steps that only exist to expand on the lore, they will never make a journal because then they don't have to fix their shitty side quest system and the blame can be placed on the player. 

Once you beat Godric, she goes to Roundtable Hold. Before that, she's in the stormhill shack. If you don't do the quest, she leaves the seed in the shack. If you do, she gives it to you at Roundtable hold.

[BloodyHell]

4 minutes ago, Dimden said:

 

 

Let's be real here, endings in Dark Souls aren't rocket science.

 

 

DS1 - You either light the fire or leave the area. It's that simple.

 

DS2 - Game literally only had one ending until Scholars of the First Sin. When that released, all you had to do for the second ending was talk to Aldia every time you saw him at a bonfire and made sure to do the optional Vendrick boss fight. Again, not something one would miss unless they're just not paying attention.

 

DS3 - The two alternate endings both required going off the beaten path but were both straight forward. Give the Fire Keeper her eyes and then murder her after Soul of Cinder to Usurp the fire or become a Hollow Lord by talking to two NPCs every time you see them and discover a hidden room. Literally the only way to screw up the Hollow Ending was to tell Anri where to find Horus or by killing her assassin of which you'd never even know existed unless you were just randomly whacking stuff.

 

You basically have to be brain dead to miss endings in Dark Souls and 90% of the quests in Souls games are literally just talking to NPCs whenever you see them. Maybe you have to kill a monster, maybe you have to do an invasion, maybe you gotta find an item. But the overwhelming majority of quests are literally just talking to NPCs.

 

Elden Ring is the first "Souls" game where NPC interactions actually matter for your endings and you can lock yourself out by either not interacting with the NPCs at all or not properly exploring the map. But the game is incredibly lenient and will let you go off track, skipping significant portions of content while still allowing you to complete the quests. The two of you are making a mountain out of a molehill because you just want things plainly stated, meanwhile we've had decades worth of games by FROM to inform us that that stating the obvious has never been their style. You all know what you were getting into and instead of enjoying the game for what it is, you're just wailing and gnashing your teeth. There's six endings in this game, 1 from just playing the game's "intended path", 4 NPC influenced endings and 1 path that will literally lock you out of every other potential ending if you so much as interact with a particular NPC. Just play the damn game and enjoy it.

 

I swear, Ubisoft spoiled the lot of us.

I mean, nobody is "Gnashing their teeth", they're having a convo on what they would prefer. Don't take it so personally.

[Joe]

I’m enjoying the game but the quest system is stupid. 

[Kal-El814]

I don’t really care about the endings in From games; the “plots” are at best esoteric and have little to no impact on anything. I would wager that 99% of Bloodborne players had no fucking idea what happened in that world prior to reading a wiki and that’s completely fine. It just doesn’t matter, the games get by on vibe checks because From delivers those expertly.

 

I “care” about the side quests, particularly the ones in this game, because it seems like entire upgrade routes are locked behind some of them and it’s not clear that’s the case. It’s not even clear when some side quests start or what causes them to advance or what causes them to fail, etc. I wouldn’t care about the quests being esoteric of even bad if I wasn’t sure that not finishing Side Quest X would lock me out of something that would be relevant to my play style. There’s a difference between not getting to dress like Eileen the Crow and potentially not realizing that Side Quest X is going to unlock upgrades for your kit.

 

The gulf between a game “coddling” the player with perfect information / guidance and what Elden Ring provides is a mile long and just as deep. From should be better at this than they are, them being like this for a long time doesn’t make it better, them doing it deliberately doesn’t make it smart. And it’s not like they don’t bother iterating, the way information about stats was delivered to you in Demon’s Souls was atrocious and they fixed that, in the same game you were one button mistap away from drawling permanent aggro on the one NPC who could store your loot and they fixed that, etc. Even if they don’t want to give players a quest log, they could at least have characters with an active quest reference it when you talk to them; some of them do this. Some characters will mark your map with POI, etc.

 

Is there even a way in this game to see what the status effect / character effect icons mean? Maybe I overlooked it, it’s not where I remember it being in Bloodborne.

[BloodyHell]

1 minute ago, Dimden said:

 

I'm not taking it personally, however there is a lot of complaining over something that is to be expected. If From is anything, they're consistent. For ten years, from 2009 to 2019, their game design has largely been the same with little in the way of deviation from the formula they established with Demon's Souls. If you want to stretch a bit, you can follow their philosophies back to the King's Field Series on Playstation in the 90's. When you hear From, you expect a Souls style game. When you play a Souls style game, you know exactly what to expect because it's what they've been doing for the last 13 years. From isn't Ubisoft or Capcom or Nintendo and expecting them to follow those paths is weird, especially with all the evidence pointing towards the company preferring to do everything their own way with little care for the direction the mainstream industry moves in.  It's understandable if you're brand new to Souls and you've never played one before, I can get that perspective. But if you've been playing these games for the past decade, you know damn well what you're getting into.

And no matter how long those practices persist, criticism is valid.