Elden Ring - Shadow of the Erdtree Expansion Announced

[Anne Summers]

 

[Petrousgyre]

That’s just silly. 

[Alan Stock]

Thanks re: Ranni. Only problem is... I have no idea what you are talking about 

 

Spoiler

You mentioned speaking to the Ranni doll, I guess that's the problem because I had no idea you could speak to it! I have the doll, I guess I will need to take another look!

 

Edit:

Spoiler

Talked to the doll. What shit design, never would have found that if it hadn't been for the hints. I don't sit in bonfire menus unless I am post-boss/cutscene, I usually just rest and exit straight away, so there's no way I would have noticed in that very specific area! 

 

[PeteJ]

1 hour ago, Alan Stock said:

Thanks re: Ranni. Only problem is... I have no idea what you are talking about 

 

  Hide contents

You mentioned speaking to the Ranni doll, I guess that's the problem because I had no idea you could speak to it! I have the doll, I guess I will need to take another look!

 

Edit:

  Hide contents

Talked to the doll. What shit design, never would have found that if it hadn't been for the hints. I don't sit in bonfire menus unless I am post-boss/cutscene, I usually just rest and exit straight away, so there's no way I would have noticed in that very specific area! 

 

Totally agree, that particular step in the quest is really bad. At no other point in the entire game is that particular action possible, and at no point does it even hint to you what you should do. Unless I missed something, the only way to complete that stage is to be be lucky finding the option, or be told what to do. 

[Chadruharazzeb]

So after finishing it for a fourth time I've got to say it's really shite how lazy they were at making any kind of

Spoiler

endgame changes. Nothing at all changes aesthetically or in how people react to you, no new dialogue or secrets. Sod all. 

 

Pretty weak. 

[Lovelyman]

8 hours ago, PeteJ said:

Totally agree, that particular step in the quest is really bad. At no other point in the entire game is that particular action possible, and at no point does it even hint to you what you should do. Unless I missed something, the only way to complete that stage is to be be lucky finding the option, or be told what to do. 

A lot of the quest design is shit. It's so obscure that the only way to do it is Google it. 

[Stevie]

Since I started my vacation on Monday, I had to give in to temptation despite no ultra wide support. 17 hours in and I'm level 37. Started out as depraved and been playing mostly solo as it seems hard to find summoning signs. At first I didn't like horse combat, but now I'm loving it. The huge open map is great, and the exploration is fun. 

 

It reminds me a lot of Dark Souls 2 at times, for some reason. 

 

Spoiler

Fuck large bears in the game!

 

[macosx]

20 hours ago, PeteJ said:

 Unless I missed something, the only way to complete that stage is to be be lucky finding the option, or be told what to do. 

I had to visit the church if vows as I think I completed the next part without triggering the dialogue and it was then kaput.

 

I really think they should add a quest menu with at least a list of NPC’s that develops with key dialogue. Nothing too hand holdy though ie go there, do that etc. The game; now open world, is so huge that you cannot follow ‘a quest’ from a character you met 4 days ago who gave out an obscure dialogue line you can’t track except by resorting to Google,

[Alan Stock]

Yeah, a great example of this is the new Links Awakening. It literally has a list of all the progression-important conversations in the menu that is ordered by time. Perfect for when you come back after a week and have no idea what you were doing, or forgot about a side quest in progress.

 

On the topic of NPC quests, I managed to 'finish' (I think) a few more:

Spoiler

Finally found the scout girl in Volcano Manor who had gone awol after the manor emptied. She was hidden down in a room by the lava in the upper section. I had a feeling she might still be in the Manor somewhere and so I was just wandering around in the hopes of finding her. I gave her the potion of forgetfulness but now feel a bit guilty, maybe death was the better option after all.

 

Finished Ranni's quest (I think) yesterday thanks to the help on here. It was great to finally get to visit the east section of Liurnia which has evaded me for so long, and also have somewhere to explore instead of the endgame bosses slog. Cleared all of that including 4 dragons which took ages, and bid farewell to Ranni. Still don't know where Blaidd got to after Nokron, unless his shadow in the underground was actually him. Annoyigly Ichi doesn't have new dialogue after the quest.

 

I managed to get Moghs divine tower after all, it wasn't the one in the middle of the ocean, which I think is blocked to me now I've washed up Leyndell.

 

Currently I'm on Radagon who I think is do-able, I can get him down to about a third health. His attack patterns are satisfying to dodge but it is an endurance test as the combos are quite long. Plugging away!

 

Two NPCs I never found continuations for are the priest from Roundtable Hold, who according to google goes to a colluseum or something? And the commander of the Weeping Peninsula fort who I last saw swearing revenge for the death of his loved one, but have no idea where he went next. Overall considering how obscure and random the NPC quests are, I think I've done quite well in getting so many of them to a conclusion so far, with only hints for Ranni (talking to the doll), Millicent (where she went after the hut) and Nepheli (where to find her after she leaves Roundtable). Although I have undoubtedly missed a fair bit!

  

[Ste Pickford]

It's been a while, but I'm still plugging away at my journal.  Just getting to the end of Stormveil Castle in the journal, whereas I'm halfway through the land of the giants in my actual game.

 

Spoiler

 

 

[Alan Stock]

I beat Radagon!

 

Spoiler

 

[macosx]

5 hours ago, Ste Pickford said:

It's been a while, but I'm still plugging away at my journal.  Just getting to the end of Stormveil Castle in the journal, whereas I'm halfway through the land of the giants in my actual game.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

Are you going to publish the lot when done. Looks amazing 👍 

[5R7]

23 hours ago, Lovelyman said:

A lot of the quest design is shit. It's so obscure that the only way to do it is Google it. 

no its not, that IS the design, and has been since demons.

 

its designed to be found out by asking people, by people working together, its what the message system was put it place for. He has said so on more than one occasion.

[Alask]

I know whenever I was stuck on a quest my first port of call was the message system

 

Spoiler

Try fingers, but hole.

 

[Lovelyman]

13 hours ago, 5R7 said:

no its not, that IS the design, and has been since demons.

 

its designed to be found out by asking people, by people working together, its what the message system was put it place for. He has said so on more than one occasion.

That's fair enough, but then the design is flawed. 

 

Just because something was designed to be a certain way, doesn't mean it can't be improved. 

 

 

[BitterToad]

I've got to the point in this where I'm at both Malenia and the last boss and have decided to call time on it... for now. I tend to do the same in all of these games first time through. Absolutely rinse it to the point of being basically exhausted with it, hit the last boss and then spend the last ten hours hating it and eventually push through. I've decided Elden Ring is special enough that I'd rather walk away liking it than having finished it. It's such a special experience and I don't want that tarnished (*parp*) for a trophy and to see the end. I'll definitely go back but I need a bit of a break before locking horns with the Elden Beast and his mad AoE attacks. 

[misterSquare]

15 hours ago, 5R7 said:

no its not, that IS the design, and has been since demons.

 

its designed to be found out by asking people, by people working together, its what the message system was put it place for. He has said so on more than one occasion.

Demons Souls on PS3 was a fantastic experience for this very reason. The game was so niche/new/hard to obtain (mine was a Korean import IIRC) and the gameplay systems so opaque (world tendancy!?) that you *had* to engage with the community via the in game messaging and online forums if you wanted to make any headway. I literally couldn't imagine anyone playing it offline, it was that integral to the gameplay. There was a great thread on here full of people seeking help, and subsequently sticking around to help others once they themselves had become experts.

 

I do think the messaging aspect has lost its value somewhat now the games are so popular though, and its definitely shown it is better served for gameplay purposes (informing others about tactics/traps/secrets etc.) than for storyline/quest related content (which is something Elden Ring obviously skews more toward than From's other games).

[RJames]

On 19/06/2022 at 10:02, Lovelyman said:

That's fair enough, but then the design is flawed. 

 

Just because something was designed to be a certain way, doesn't mean it can't be improved. 

 

 

Yeah this.

I’m all for no quest markers, no map markers, etc. etc., 

But until I read this thread I didn’t really even know this game had ‘quests’.

I’m 35 hours odd in and in Liurnia and I can only think of 1 ‘quest’ I’ve actually done and it was trivial.
As far as I know I’m not on any other quests and if I am I have no idea how to advance any of them or ‘finish’ them.
I guess I’m supposed to Google every NPC I meet? Sounds like fun / good design .

How much of the game would I miss if I didn’t do any quests?
Are the NPC dialogues I’ve had in the open world kind of cryptic crossword clues for things I should be doing?

[John0]

The Ranni doll thing is worse than needing to spot the extra option at the sites of grace:

 

Spoiler

What happened to me was that I talked to the doll once or twice and just got the "..." so ignored it the other times.  So I think I tried talking to the doll in the wrong order, or I tried talking to it in the right place but after I had visited the place where Blaidd is supposed to appear and challenge you, or something... Basically I had to google it despite having talked to the doll at all available sites and never would have randomly revisited the Blaidd trigger section to get him to appear.

So (according to my experience) you don't just have to notice the option and use it, you have to have done that at one (or possibly all) of the sites before entering the specific Blaidd passage. Or just revisit that passage afterwards for no apparent reason.

 

That bit did really annoy me to be honest. Having to do everything in a very specific order without any kind of clues or pointers (that I'm aware of). I'm all for the mysteriousness of it all but I would had loved a bit more leeway with things like timings and ordering of triggers.

[sid]

Not sure if anyone has posted this - Elden ring demake for the snes. Want.

 

 

[Anne Summers]

On 22/06/2022 at 18:38, RJames said:

Yeah this.

I’m all for no quest markers, no map markers, etc. etc., 

But until I read this thread I didn’t really even know this game had ‘quests’.

I’m 35 hours odd in and in Liurnia and I can only think of 1 ‘quest’ I’ve actually done and it was trivial.
As far as I know I’m not on any other quests and if I am I have no idea how to advance any of them or ‘finish’ them.
I guess I’m supposed to Google every NPC I meet? Sounds like fun / good design .

How much of the game would I miss if I didn’t do any quests?
Are the NPC dialogues I’ve had in the open world kind of cryptic crossword clues for things I should be doing?

There aren't really "things you should be doing" beyond finding people and talking to them. Occasionally you need to give them an object, like the grape woman, but they all make it very clear what they want. There aren't really puzzles, as such, or anything like that. Occasionally there are multiple options or pathways to take. But when you get a choice it's usually a case of selecting a different ending for the "quest" without there necessarily being a right or wrong option. It's very different from most games and as has been pointed out very frequently, there are plenty of games out there that auto-track your progress in a journal, and give you a checklist of things you need to do in order to 100 per cent clear the game, if that's what you want to play. 

[Ste Pickford]

Just had my favourite moment in the game so far.  I've got to Castle Sol, but was finding the place tough going.  After getting battered by those teleporting golden knights a few too many times I decided it was a bit hard for me, and maybe I should go somewhere else and level up a bit before returning (level 102).  One last creep around and I find the boss door.  Fuck it, might as well take a look at the big guy, see what I'm going to have to face up to later, as I'd heard the boss here was a right bastard.

I only beat him first time!  Except, we both got killing blows in on each other at the same time, so I died right after the achievement pops for beating him.  My hands are still shaking!

 

Spoiler

 

 

[Qazimod]

 

 

 

The only way it could be any better is if he said OHHH ELDEN RING.

 

EDIT: oh! also I beat Dragonlord P over the weekend, as he was still alive in my endgame save, so yay.

[Kevvy Metal]

On 23/06/2022 at 19:27, Anne Summers said:

There aren't really "things you should be doing" beyond finding people and talking to them. Occasionally you need to give them an object, like the grape woman, but they all make it very clear what they want. There aren't really puzzles, as such, or anything like that. Occasionally there are multiple options or pathways to take. But when you get a choice it's usually a case of selecting a different ending for the "quest" without there necessarily being a right or wrong option. It's very different from most games and as has been pointed out very frequently, there are plenty of games out there that auto-track your progress in a journal, and give you a checklist of things you need to do in order to 100 per cent clear the game, if that's what you want to play. 

 

RE: quests. You're not meant to be finding them all and ticking them off like a big list. They're cryptic and obsure for a reason, mainly to highten the sense of discovery and it's to the games credit that it's not scared to let you miss things. They are in no way a "design flaw" and are totally deliberate, just as they were in all the other Souls games. 

 

Also to be clear, I'm actually quoting in agreeance  

[Flanders]

1 minute ago, Kevvy Metal said:

 

RE: quests. You're not meant to be finding them all and ticking them off like a big list. They're cryptic and obsure for a reason, mainly to highten the sense of discovery and it's to the games credit that it's not scared to let you miss things. They are in no way a "design flaw" and are totally deliberate, just as they were in all the other Souls games. 

I would say that they’re quite a bit more extensive in Elden Ring than the other Souls games. If don’t do Solaire’s or Siegmeyer’s quest in Dark Souls I miss out on a few mini-story beats, if I don’t do Ranni’s quest in Elden Ring I will miss out a hefty chunk of actual game. 
 

I don’t really mind it that much myself - I just googled the steps you need to take to do Ranni’s quest and thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing anyway - but I’ll never be unsympathetic to people who have issues with how From does quests. It’s the part of their design philosophy that does tip over into annoyingly obtuse JRPG nonsense rather than anything intuitive. 
 

Still say the absolute nadir of this was the ludicrously convoluted way you had to access Dark Souls’ DLC. To play new content I paid real money for I have to complete two thirds of the main game again and do a bunch of things that I’d have never figured out without the internet, cheers lads. 

[joemul]

Currently mooching about in the Capital. Loving the atmosphere. Managed to best a big dragon type monster in a random courtyard and a hard as nails Knight type fella. Still utterly lost and avoiding the sewers after getting battered by some absolutely massive grocks. 
 

need to go back to fight the gargoyles too but they’re a pain in the arse when you don’t have projectiles. 

[Flanders]

Had an outrageously amazing session on this last night. I’ve moved on from my Starscourge sword to the Ruins Greatsword, which impossibly has an even better special skill. 
 

Did all of Fia’s quest (fuck me, the underground in this game, Jesus Christ it’s amazing) and went up above level 100. It is only now at 70 hours into the game that I’ve started using the Rune Arcs and the Wondrous Physik properly - which resulted in me brutalising a bunch of nasty bosses in north Caelid that had been total non-starters before. 
 

I keep putting off going to the Capitol. Think I’ll wreck Volcano Manor next. 

[Ste Pickford]

When I got to the capital I felt like I'd reached the end of the game, or near enough.  One big dungeon to go and it would be the big boss, I presumed.  I was so wrong.  I'm still a ways from the end yet (just entered the Haligtree), and there are areas I've not reached, but I'd guess beating the capital marks about the 2/3 point in the game?  It's incredibly generous.  They could have easily held back vast chunks of it for DLC.  Just imagine what we will get as DLC!

[rgraves]

1 hour ago, Ste Pickford said:

Just imagine what madness we'll need to go through to access we will get as DLC!

 

FTFY

 

I'm fully expecting the DLC to cost £50, and to access it after purchase you'll need to beat Godskin Duo and Malenia together in a river of rot on an open-sided aquaduct being blasted by trebuchets firing giant lobsters.

[Flanders]

I keep thinking about what I’ll play after Elden Ring but the reality is it’s going to be NG+. I will up the challenge by holding off from using my summons but will respec as an almighty sorcerer so that I can nuke fools with all these lovely spells I’ve collected along my first play through.

 

Who am I kidding, I will 100pc keep using the Mimic, I love that guy. My zero-fucks alter-ego. I am become gank-squad, destroyer of worlds.