Elden Ring - Shadow of the Erdtree Expansion Announced

[smithstock]

Apologies if posted already, but has everyone seen this doing the rounds?

 

 

[joemul]

WOW

[joemul]

NEED!

[Ste Pickford]

4 minutes ago, kempstar said:

Did you actually draw those?? Wow. What a talent!

A feel a bit guilty taking too much credit.  The graphics and art direction of the game did the best part of the work.

[John0]

1 hour ago, Doctor Shark said:

It’s important to note that Margin’s attacks aren’t random. 
 

Margit is basically a tutorial boss: he’s the games way of showing you how to fight big enemies and bosses. Be patient, wait for attacks, dodge roll at the last second, don’t panic roll. His attacks are very clearly telegraphed - if you pay attention to his animations, you can tell exactly what attack he is going to do and, once you get the timing down, he won’t hit you as much, if at all. Top tip: rolling towards is always better than rolling away, once you have the timing. You’ll be invincible for the hit, and be close enough to hit back and dodge follow up attacks, instead of far away and in prime range for a second and third smack. 

 

I'm not sure I would 100% agree that Margit's attacks are very clearly telegraphed, sure some of them are and leave him VERY open. But he also had that glowing knife that he pulls very quickly out of nowhere. What are you supposed to do against that thing? It was chipping away at me even though my shield. The way I ended up beating him was hanging back for 80-90% of his attacks until I saw him winding up for the big ones that leave him very open - oh and poisoning him with my jellyfish, who was 100% completely necessary both for the poison and the distraction. And it didn't really feel right. I did try rolling towards his attacks and on his first phase this worked well, but his second phase I found he was able to attack again before my roll had fully finished (I'm on medium roll). And there was a lot of un-fully-blockable flurries that were stunning me and very often killing me.

 

I think you're probably right with what you say but it definitely didn't feel as easy as the way you put it . Maybe I didn't learn the right lessons - but I'm not sure the fight taught me that much other than to wait for that one attack that left him massively open, and to use my jellyfish. And that anything else killed me over and over again (save the lesson of levelling up a tonne and coming back later, I suppose).

[scottcr]

2 hours ago, Davros sock drawer said:

I killed him last night, posted a video of it. What weapon and stats do you have? I used a +10 Longsword plus the spirit noblemen (I think) and just went at him two handed. He went down very quickly when mobbed like that.

 

Here’s the video again if it helps:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

yeah, my sword is only +2. I’m going to focus on getting that upgraded as I’ve quite quite a lot of smithstones.

 

TONIGHT MARGIT DIES

[Captain Kelsten]

3 minutes ago, John0 said:

 

I'm not sure I would 100% agree that Margit's attacks are very clearly telegraphed, sure some of them are and leave him VERY open. But he also had that glowing knife that he pulls very quickly out of nowhere. What are you supposed to do against that thing? It was chipping away at me even though my shield. The way I ended up beating him was hanging back for 80-90% of his attacks until I saw him winding up for the big ones that leave him very open - oh and poisoning him with my jellyfish, who was 100% completely necessary both for the poison and the distraction. And it didn't really feel right. I did try rolling towards his attacks and on his first phase this worked well, but his second phase I found he was able to attack again before my roll had fully finished (I'm on medium roll). And there was a lot of un-fully-blockable flurries that were stunning me and very often killing me.

 

I think you're probably right with what you say but it definitely didn't feel as easy as the way you put it . Maybe I didn't learn the right lessons - but I'm not sure the fight taught me that much other than to wait for that one attack that left him massively open, and to use my jellyfish. And that anything else killed me over and over again (save the lesson of levelling up a tonne and coming back later, I suppose).

Shields don’t block 100% of any magic damage so if you try to block a magic attack, you’ll take chip damage to your health. 
 

Also, that bit I’ve put in bold is a lesson right there! STOP TRYING TO BLOCK HIS ATTACKS!

Finally, I never said it was “easy”

 

 

[Majora]

You know what would massively improve this in terms of QOL? Some kind of 'most recently acquired items' tab in the inventory menu. I can't tell you how many times I've picked up an item, have literally no clue what it is from the name, and then spent several minutes scouring every tab trying to find where it is so I can read the description. Is it a consumable? A talisman? A shield? A key quest item? Who knows!

[hmm]

3 minutes ago, Majora said:

You know what would massively improve this? Some kind of 'most recently acquired items' tab in the inventory menu. I can't tell you how many times I've picked up an item, have literally no clue what it is from the name, and then spent several minutes scouring every tab trying to find where it is so I can read the description. Is it a consumable? A talisman? A shield? A key quest item? Who knows!

 

Yeah, I've spent at least an hour in total hunting for the latest random thing I've picked up. It's always been the same in Souls though.

 

Another QOL improvement would be an option to set the compass to hide with the rest of the HUD. The game's so immersive otherwise and I just want to lose all the visual noise when I'm out of combat, but without having to manually toggle it on and off in the options.

[Qazimod]

2 hours ago, John0 said:

But he also had that glowing knife that he pulls very quickly out of nowhere. What are you supposed to do against that thing?

If all else fails: assume the worst. Even if he didn’t pull it out at the end of the last combo, it’s better to get used to the idea that he’ll end with that, and try to get out of there.

 

That said, if you get used to everything else and “only” have to worry about a bit of chip damage from things like the knife, it’s less stressful.

 

2 hours ago, Kryptonian said:

So yes, it's not random at all!

 

I think that "not random" - taking it to its logical conclusion - would be gaming the enemy and creating a situation where he throws out the same exploitable attack (a silly extreme, but the use of "not random" in this discussion is itself a silly extreme.) This is in fact possible to an extent, because there are only so many ways that he can hit you from certain distances. You can definitely limit an opponent's options - you kind of have to - but the decision between the remaining options (like, I dunno, deciding to pull out a glowing knife at the end of a combo, as above) can be hard to anticipate until you've attempted and failed enough times. (Not just the decision between the available moves, but the timing of when those moves are performed - as I've discovered after several early rolls!) This is why I advise people to "assume the worst" - assume that there will be more attacks after the point that you think you have an opening. Margit's slight modifications of timings and combo components are decisions that you aren't always in control of. Pedantic, I know, but we're calling entire bosses "random" (or not) so...

[Sumire]

1 hour ago, Ste Pickford said:

A few more additions to my journal.  Only very early stuff so not spoilery or anything.
 

 

 

Wow they look great. I could see some of those used as a diary you find in game as part of a story arc or something.

[Mike S]

1 hour ago, MikeF said:

 

This is Stormveil?

 

Thief below

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Did you get the main gate open, if so its that dude nicking them

 

 

I'm not peeping that spoiler in case my hunch is incorrect. I bet it isn't though as the suspect has a long history through many games of being a tricksy wee bastard!

 

 

[Hexx]

1 hour ago, Nate Dogg III said:

 

Ah yes, that would be a problem. In which case I'd suggest your next stop is 

 

  Hide contents

Volcano Manor

 

 

No idea where that is!

 

Been moping around cleaning up mini dungeons and breadcrumbs. Ancestoral spirit and the Selina boss indicate I might be overlevelled for them D

 

Royal Acad question

 

Spoiler

Patches (I know, I know) told me to get in an Iron Maiden at the bottom of water wheel? But there's nothing here? He's not normally an outright liar....

 

 

[Mike S]

1 hour ago, Ste Pickford said:

A few more additions to my journal.  Only very early stuff so not spoilery or anything.
 

 

 

Brilliant!

 

When you are finished you should release this fine journal as a zine. 

[John0]

6 minutes ago, Doctor Shark said:

Shields don’t block 100% of any magic damage so if you try to block a magic attack, you’ll take chip damage to your health. 
 

Also, that bit I’ve put in bold is a lesson right there! STOP TRYING TO BLOCK HIS ATTACKS!

Finally, I never said it was “easy”

 

I mean to be fair I didn't say you said it was easy, I said it didn't feel as easy as the way you described. I just thought we were edging towards the old "Dark Souls isn't hard you just need to pay attention to the attacks" that we get in these Souls threads sometimes! It's still really hard to execute even after you've died 20 times to all the various attacks. At least I still find it so. And I feel like the consensus is that a lot of people do.

 

I did actually try two-handed and felt like I was getting caught too much by the attacks that I would have blocked. And when I did I lost wayyy more health that the little bits of magic chip. Shields up is the only way I've ever learnt how to play Souls to be honest! My weapon was still +0 at the time which didn't help.

[Thor]

28 minutes ago, Ste Pickford said:

A feel a bit guilty taking too much credit.  The graphics and art direction of the game did the best part of the work.

Does a portrait painter give credit to the model for merely having a face?  Take all the credit Ste, your art for this is amazing. 

[Alan Stock]

38 minutes ago, Majora said:

You know what would massively improve this in terms of QOL? Some kind of 'most recently acquired items' tab in the inventory menu. I can't tell you how many times I've picked up an item, have literally no clue what it is from the name, and then spent several minutes scouring every tab trying to find where it is so I can read the description. Is it a consumable? A talisman? A shield? A key quest item? Who knows!

 

I accidentally was hammering Triangle to close a message when a boss reward popped up last night, instantly closing the reward. But I found a solution - I just used the record previous gameplay option on the PS5 to record the last 3 minutes, and watched it back. Even if you close the window accidentally a popup appears in the right corner of the screen telling you what you picked up. Give it a shot next time (if you are on console)!

[Alan Stock]

3 hours ago, Anne Summers said:

Anyway, here's what I've done in the last few days, spoilered for anyone who hasn't got out of the early game areas yet:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Killed Grafter Godrick

 

Tried to explore a bit more of Stormveil after being told I've missed a load of cool stuff - found another massive courtyard area with loads of enemies to kill. However, having originally chosen to enter via the side entrance, I'm now unable to enter the main gate - is it permanently locked now? The NPC who gave me the choice is gone.

 

Explored from top to bottom of the lakes area (without finding what I actually need to progress the storyline, so far). So many great locations though. Found bosses right at the top (in the manor) and right at the bottom (village) that I'm unable to defeat despite having a few cracks at them. 

 

Still can't find the tower, or whatever, that I gather from the description of the rune I got when I killed Godrick, I need to find , in order to charge the rune? Or something like that? The description says it is behind Stormveil castle (which could mean anywhere in the lakes I guess!) Is this another hint pointing me towards the Academy as my next main-mission destination, or something else? 

 

There's an island/ peninsula (not sure which) directly west of Stormveil, which has a bunch of buildings on it (although none particularly tower-like) which appears prominently in view in a few places, which I take as a hint I'm supposed to go there - has anyone managed to get onto it, though? Haven't found a path there so far. It looks cut off from the mainland. Is it another one that needs to be approached via an underground passage (Like the island with the Dragon Church on it)?

 

At last, after hitting every wall with a stupid "liar ahead" message in front of it, I found a Dark Souls-style fake wall! Up north of the lakes area, before you get to the manor. Has anyone else found others or is this pretty much the only one?

 

Finally late last night, went back to take a look at the dragon in the swamp right by the starting area, even though I don't think he's the one that has the key I need to progress (as I was told is the next thing I need to do). Opened the chest that's been mentioned a few times in this thread and finally found the teleporter trap I've been reading about. Thankfully as I guess I found it at a slightly later stage than most, I'm not completely underpowered for the area and managed to survive and explore a fair bit. Feels like an end-game area to me! Also some great staged battles between groups of mobs where I just got to sit back and soak up the XP as they went to work on each other! Grabbed enough for a couple of levels (I'm 32 now) and then went to bed. 

 

This is the first time for something like five years (possibly since Dark Souls 3) that I've immersed myself in a new game like this. Staying up late after everyone's gone to bed just to explore and discover a little bit more of the world. Due to a combination of work, family, and there just not being any games that made me want to do it! Feels good to be back. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sounds like fun adventures!

 

I have a few hints for your regarding some of your questions:

Spoiler

Its pretty mean that it teleports the guy who can open the castle gates for you, but you can still do it manually. You'll need to find a route back to the entrance courtyard from the castle interior - there's one on the rooftops which I recommend, or you can take the painful ground level. If you are inside the castle, as you look at the main gates, just to the right side of the ramp leading down to it is a little doorway, which hides a grace site and also a lever to open the gates. Even though I had the NPC open the gates, I actually saw a realtime player ghost using the lever so that must be how you open them, it was inactive for me.

 

As for the tower for the rune, they're talking about the one at the end of the huge broken bridge that comes out from Stormveil Castle itself, the one you can go underneath on the plains below the castle. That should be hint enough!

 

[Alan Stock]

Also I never noticed this rune stealing that you folks are on about, now I'm curious whether I suffered it. And yes, I imagine I know who the likely culprit is!

 

Another thing people may have missed in general is there seem to be special events based on the time of day in some places. I've had two things happen in Limgrave, and a special enemy appear at night in one area elsewhere (I won't say where). This is quite exciting, Breath of the Wild comes to mind! Who knows what secret stuff we'll uncover even after our main playthroughs!

[Wiper]

Finally decided to stop exploring the swamps and tackle the castle gate last night — first thoughts, on clearing the route without needing a flask, was that I shouldn't have avoided it in the first place: "that was easy!"

 

Then encountered that Margit fella everyone had been talking about. Oops

 

Took about 20 goes to learn his patterns well enough to get past, so I'm slightly up on my previous total of two deaths in the game! Very satisfying to finally overcome him, though, with the smallest sliver of health: 

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

Particularly satisfying as the previous attempt wasn't quite there (shot taken moments before death):

 

Spoiler

 

 

[Mike S]

8 minutes ago, Alan Stock said:

Also I never noticed this rune stealing that you folks are on about, now I'm curious whether I suffered it. And yes, I imagine I know who the likely culprit is!

 

 

I thought I was confused when i first noticed it as I'd been playing a while and was quite tired.

 

I was nervous enough carrying 8,000 runes into Stormveil for my first foray there and, it turns out, rightly so as it is a very hostile environment indeed. So I knew exactly how much I lost when mobbed by sword footed birds. Picking up five thousand something threw me so much I lost concentration and was mobbed to death again. Rushing back it was down to 4,000. I then lost it after dying again and not making it to my ever dwindling rune pile..

 

Devious bastards!

 

It's lunchtime so I am going back in for an hour or so...

[Hexx]

If you kill the rune thief do you get them back

 

Just did my first boss with no hits - DKSofN. Felt good man!

 

[NexivRed]

2 hours ago, Qazimod said:

But that’s a player who already has the knowledge of every attack and attack string. When you don’t yet know if a move is something that can only end a combo (and let you get in) or something that potentially has a follow-up (and result in you getting punished), it can feel unpredictable.

 

I’m not saying that it’s impossible to read the boss - you just have to gain the knowledge beforehand. At the same time, I can’t say that a player can waltz in and know everything that’s coming on their first attempt. It’s all knowledge.

 

2 hours ago, Doctor Shark said:

 

Yes, that’s exactly what I was saying

 

Yeah, the video is very impressive. But 1000% this guy knows the entire fight, start to end, and has read about the attacks. Probably practiced. 
When you go in fresh, you don’t know the patterns. 

[Captain Kelsten]

1 minute ago, NexivRed said:

 

 

Yeah, the video is very impressive. But 1000% this guy knows the entire fight, start to end, and has read about the attacks. Probably practiced. 
When you go in fresh, you don’t know the patterns. 

Bloody hellfire…I know this. I have been saying this. My entire point was that the fight isn’t random in the slightest and if you practice and pay attention you can see that, which can lead to people being able to beat it naked at level one if they’re so inclined. It might seem random when you first go in in the same way trying to read French might seem random if you’ve never done it before but you keep practicing and you see patterns, pick up on things, and you get there, eventually. I said the fight is teaching you how to fight bosses. I’m not saying it’s easy (in fact I said the opposite), I’m not saying anyone can or should do it at level 1 naked, but that the fight is not random, you just have to pay attention, not panic, not roll around randomly to avoid things but roll with purpose when you need to, not rush in mid combo thinking it’s safe and then moaning he’s random when he keeps whacking you, trying to block combos you know you can’t block and getting hurt and so on so forth. 

[Jamie John]

1 hour ago, Hawklord said:

Someone earlier in the thread posted a screenshot of where I got to before going further down but I couldn't find it to let them know I'd now found that place. You can see it from the roof area with no clear way of getting there. There's a locked/one way door at the Liftside Chamber Grace, it's on the other side of that. Area isn't large but has a nasty enemy lol. 

 

Spoiler below is how to get there

 

  Hide contents

Head to where I've circled and jump up on to the ledge at the back and work your way around Then just follow the path and it will take you to the locked door at the Grace which you can now open, then head down

 

  Hide contents

 

 

There's also another one of these doors that I presume takes you to above the room with the Grafted Scion (there's an item and a chest that you can see above you in that room), but I can't figure out how to get to it

 

edit: Found it, wasn't worth it 😕 

 

 

I did that bit last night. The route is pretty well hidden. I left a message to try to tell others which way to go.

 

The only other place in Stormveil I haven't yet been to is

Spoiler

down the tower with the big lift in the middle, where you encounter the first banished knight (apart from the one in the cell where the door gets locked behind you, anyway). There's no way to summon the lift without getting in it from the bottom, and I can't get down there. I *think*, however, that this is the underground route to the island with the manor/mini castle on it that you can see off the coast the entire time you're climbing up the Stormveil ramparts; you probably have to find a way to get to the castle first and then get on the lift from the bottom and it brings you up, back to near where the point of grace is. Unless there's another route into the castle without going via the ramparts.

 

[Ste Pickford]

I often head back to the first church and potter about there, and I've noticed that I've not seen the Tree Sentinel for a while.  He was there at the start, and I had one fight where he squished me pretty quick, and I had to avoid him a few times when starting out, but I've not seen him in ages.  I've definitely not killed him. Have I just been lucky / unlucky, or does he only appear at certain times or something?

[Majora]

7 minutes ago, Jamie John said:

 

I did that bit last night. The route is pretty well hidden. I left a message to try to tell others which way to go.

 

The only other place in Stormveil I haven't yet been to is

  Hide contents

down the tower with the big lift in the middle, where you encounter the first banished knight (apart from the one in the cell where the door gets locked behind you, anyway). There's no way to summon the lift without getting in it from the bottom, and I can't get down there. I *think*, however, that this is the underground route to the island with the manor/mini castle on it that you can see off the coast the entire time you're climbing up the Stormveil ramparts; you probably have to find a way to get to the castle first and then get on the lift from the bottom and it brings you up, back to near where the point of grace is. Unless there's another route into the castle without going via the ramparts.

 

 

Your theory is incorrect 😀

 

I actually have no clue about the lift but the island across the way from the castle has nothing to do with it.

[Davros sock drawer]

Oh wow, I’m so far away now. Found a teleport trap in Weeping Peninsula which transported me to:

 

Spoiler

Leyden Capital 

Once again, amazing to think that I could have just ridden here from the start of the game.

[Sexton Hardcastle]

1 hour ago, smithstock said:

Apologies if posted already, but has everyone seen this doing the rounds?

 

 

 

I picked up that Twinblade fairly early on, and I dont think its left my side since. Once you get used to its range it is beastly for cutting through goons when two handing. I have it +13 and I'm still using it in place of bigger weapons.

 

 

[Davros sock drawer]

14 minutes ago, Doctor Shark said:

Bloody hellfire…I know this. I have been saying this. My entire point was that the fight isn’t random in the slightest and if you practice and pay attention you can see that, which can lead to people being able to beat it naked at level one if they’re so inclined. It might seem random when you first go in in the same way trying to read French might seem random if you’ve never done it before but you keep practicing and you see patterns, pick up on things, and you get there, eventually. I said the fight is teaching you how to fight bosses. I’m not saying it’s easy (in fact I said the opposite), I’m not saying anyone can or should do it at level 1 naked, but that the fight is not random, you just have to pay attention, not panic, not roll around randomly to avoid things but roll with purpose when you need to, not rush in mid combo thinking it’s safe and then moaning he’s random when he keeps whacking you, trying to block combos you know you can’t block and getting hurt and so on so forth. 

Random is just one of those words that people don’t know the meaning of anymore. Like “literally”.