General Gaming Elden Ring - Information Thread, update (05/21): Shadow of the Erdtree "Story Trailer"

[BloodyHell]

36 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

I made it to Mistwood forest. I was scared at first because it was night time and there were a bunch of @stepee's roaming around. I came back later and the normal ones aren't too bad but the Omega Stepees are no joke. I'm going to have to come back very later to take care of one of those guys. 😧

 

Also to the south is a fort, if you beat everyone there the enemies don't respawn. 🤔

 

Also @best3444 you asked about crafting. I thought this was useful. I crafted some bone darts and I think they are good in situations where the are groups of enemies, throw one at a guy to draw aggro so only one comes away and you can take them out one at a time rather than going in and getting gangbanged.

That alpha bear is crazy. 

The Moose type thing is incredible too.

[Keyser_Soze]

So the Santa Claus guy sells you a couple of notes. I followed the one that tells you to find the Third Church of Marika. I went there and did the thing but there's something else

 

Spoiler

Behind the church is a teleporter. It teleports you to some far away place. The enemies there are super high level and do a lot of damage but easy(ish) to kill. One of them dropped their weapon, the Vulgar Militia Saw. It's not super great against the enemies in that area yet but I went back towards the first area (ish) and the thing killed a pumpkinhead in 3 shots!

 

[Zaku3]

26 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

So the Santa Claus guy sells you a couple of notes. I followed the one that tells you to find the Third Church of Marika. I went there and did the thing but there's something else

 

  Hide contents

Behind the church is a teleporter. It teleports you to some far away place. The enemies there are super high level and do a lot of damage but easy(ish) to kill. One of them dropped their weapon, the Vulgar Militia Saw. It's not super great against the enemies in that area yet but I went back towards the first area (ish) and the thing killed a pumpkinhead in 3 shots!

 

I have been farminf there since they drop 1k runes.

[Best]

Level 25 and I haven’t open much of the map. Is there a way to get more flasks of crimson tears or are you always limited to 3?

[XxEvil AshxX]

Man I keep playing this game when I get home in the evening and I'm doing alright... as I've said before I'm pretty terrible at Souls games. I do think this game gives the player a lot more flexibility to grind and get stronger, but I also think the combat is a bit more forgiving than it has been in the past. I killed the Beastman guy in the first cave and made it far enough through the catacombs to unlock the boss room (the big cat statue looking thing) but that's about it so far.

 

That said, I'm still finding myself running around that starting area and not really making any progress. Not sure if that's just par for the course and I'm expecting too much, but every time I try to advance I get my ass handed to me by something. I understand that that's the game, but I'm having a hard time being able to tell if I'm getting my ass handed to me because I suck or because my character just isn't strong enough. It's like, do I grind and come back later? Or do I just need to get gud? I don't want to waste time trying to chip away at a boss if i'm just not supposed to be there yet, but I can't tell which it is.

 

Still enjoying the game though, but I can't help but wonder if this is gonna be another Undead Burg for me, where five years later I'm still running around the same area because I suck too much to make it further lol.

 

One quick question; I have two summon spells, one for spectral wolves and another for spectral people, and I've talked to the witch at the church and received the summoning bell, but I can't figure out how to equip/use it. I've tried memorizing them at a bonfire (it's a bonfire) but apparently that's not how to do it.

[Bacon]

Margit is harder than the demi-god boss he is preventing you from accessing. Margit is totally overtuned. 

[Bloodporne]

7 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

Yeah I know what he's talking about he showed a picture of it.

Oops. Did not catch that.

 

5 hours ago, Moa said:

 

This just happened to me.

 

  Hide contents

I was pretty impressed at the size of the game when the map kind of initially zoomed out. When I took this teleporter and was surrounded by another sea of black I was dumbstruck.

 

This game is pretty fucking incredible. It feels like every time I swing my camera around I'm greeted to another vista whose scope puts leaving vault 101 to shame. In terms of design this game leaves everything I've ever played (except maybe Xen in Black Mesa) in the absolute dust.

 

They also seem to have managed to stick the landing BotW failed to do, which is providing long form dungeons that appear to be as intricate as the dungeons in previous non-open world series entries.

 

It's been a long time since a single-player game has really gripped me like this, and I kind of forgot what it felt like to just want to game obsessively from dawn to dust.

 

Also, did you know you can put a weapon in one hand and a staff in the other, because I sure didn't.

This is what's blowing my mind. Not only is the open world incredibly engaging and full of fun shit but then you get to a place like Stormveil and...it's the entirety of Boletarian Palace but a new height of level design and visual and vistas.

 

Like look out West of Stormveil, just who the fuck designed this? They've always had stellar art but come ON. 

 

This game often reminds me of that 80s take on fantasy like The Last Unicorn or Legend. It's more whimsical than prior entries but also highly gothic and somber.

 

Also the small additions in the side dungeons of traps you can interact with and small puzzle elements as well as the added platforming work wonders.

 

I was in the River Bed (Sofria?) area yesterday and it had a full Tomb Raider platforming puzzle. That's my shit.

 

This game quite literally has everything cool about videogames so far.

[Bloodporne]

3 minutes ago, Bacon said:

Margit is harder than the demi-god boss he is preventing you from accessing. Margit is totally overtuned. 

I think Margit is a wall intended to make you go explore after looking at it in context of my progression. He naturally made me bounce off and only come back after exploring the hell out of Limgrave and ready for the fight.

 

Not sure if that's the most elegant solution since the game does guide you straight to him but...it worked I guess? Was pretty frustrated for an hour or so at first thinking the game wanted me to beat him right away.

[Keyser_Soze]

13 minutes ago, best3444 said:

Level 25 and I haven’t open much of the map. Is there a way to get more flasks of crimson tears or are you always limited to 3?

 

If you have golden seeds you use it at the bonfire to level them up.

A golden seed is actually a gift at the beginning of the game if you chose it as your gift (I did)

[Keyser_Soze]

14 minutes ago, XxEvil AshxX said:

That said, I'm still finding myself running around that starting area and not really making any progress. Not sure if that's just par for the course and I'm expecting too much, but every time I try to advance I get my ass handed to me by something. I understand that that's the game, but I'm having a hard time being able to tell if I'm getting my ass handed to me because I suck or because my character just isn't strong enough. It's like, do I grind and come back later? Or do I just need to get gud? I don't want to waste time trying to chip away at a boss if i'm just not supposed to be there yet, but I can't tell which it is.

 

I would say go somewhere else and find other things, don't smash your head against a wall trying to go in one direction.

 

15 minutes ago, XxEvil AshxX said:

One quick question; I have two summon spells, one for spectral wolves and another for spectral people, and I've talked to the witch at the church and received the summoning bell, but I can't figure out how to equip/use it. I've tried memorizing them at a bonfire (it's a bonfire) but apparently that's not how to do it.

 

As @Dimden corrected me earlier. You don't equip it. You''ll see a blue gravestone on the left of your screen and that means you can summon. (Just push X on whatever ashes you have equipped)

[Mercury33]

I don’t know how many people here are into board games but the Art and world they built here reminds me A LOT of Tainted Grail. Shit is incredible 

[XxEvil AshxX]

4 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

As @Dimden corrected me earlier. You don't equip it. You''ll see a blue gravestone on the left of your screen and that means you can summon. (Just push X on whatever ashes you have equipped)

 

So do I tap down on the dpad to scroll through? Because I DO see the gravestone on the side of the screen, but pressing X just makes me use a flask (I'm on Xbox).

 

Also, I will use at least two flasks during every conflict purely from pressing X when I want to attack. Seriously considering remapping the buttons if it lets me do that.

[JPDunks4]

23 minutes ago, best3444 said:

Level 25 and I haven’t open much of the map. Is there a way to get more flasks of crimson tears or are you always limited to 3?

 

How many flasks do you have?  I've had 5 from basically the very beginning of the game, up to 7 now, and just beat the first "real" boss.  Golden Seeds are exchanged for Flasks, and Sacred Tears I think make the Flasks more powerful.

[Best]

1 minute ago, JPDunks4 said:

 

How many flasks do you have?  I've had 5 from basically the very beginning of the game, up to 7 now, and just beat the first "real" boss.  Golden Seeds are exchanged for Flasks, and Sacred Tears I think make the Flasks more powerful.

 

So at the church I exchange golden seeds for flasks? I never seen an option like that. 

 

I was just attempting to beat the dragon on the lake and that was comical. Then I found a chest that was a trap in the ruins next to the dragon that put me in hell. Now I'm going to die and lose 4k runes. This game is so hard and difficult to understand as a noob to the series. 

[Best]

4 minutes ago, JPDunks4 said:

 

How many flasks do you have?  I've had 5 from basically the very beginning of the game, up to 7 now, and just beat the first "real" boss.  Golden Seeds are exchanged for Flasks, and Sacred Tears I think make the Flasks more powerful.

 

I've had 3 flasks since the beginning of the game.

[Mercury33]

1 minute ago, best3444 said:

 

So at the church I exchange golden seeds for flasks? I never seen an option like that. 

 

I was just attempting to beat the dragon on the lake and that was comical. Then I found a chest that was a trap in the ruins next to the dragon that put me in hell. Now I'm going to die and lose 4k runes. This game is so hard and difficult to understand as a noob to the series. 

haha the crystal mine suuuuucks. when you leave the little house you spawn in go right and down. You should be able to sprint past all the enemies and make your way out of the mine. There’s a site of grace outside and you can teleport back to where you were 

[Bacon]

22 minutes ago, best3444 said:

So at the church I exchange golden seeds for flasks? I never seen an option like that. 

 

watch this

 

 

And it won't require 3 golden seeds for you. It starts out only costing 1 golden seed to upgrade.

[Chris-]

No wonder I thought the tutorial sucked, I went back to the starting area and realized I completely bypassed dropping down to do it.  

[Keyser_Soze]

47 minutes ago, XxEvil AshxX said:

So do I tap down on the dpad to scroll through? Because I DO see the gravestone on the side of the screen, but pressing X just makes me use a flask (I'm on Xbox).

 

Yes. From the start screen where you equip your equipment that is where you put the summoning ashes (or any other consumable items towards the bottom). Pushing down scrolls through all the items, like you should have your horse equipped there too and pressing X uses the item that is in that slot.

 

 

47 minutes ago, XxEvil AshxX said:

Also, I will use at least two flasks during every conflict purely from pressing X when I want to attack. Seriously considering remapping the buttons if it lets me do that.

 

Well that's on you. All attacks are on the shoulder buttons. RT, RB, LT, LB

[BloodyHell]

1 hour ago, best3444 said:

Level 25 and I haven’t open much of the map. Is there a way to get more flasks of crimson tears or are you always limited to 3?

Oh no, you get more with seeds, and you can also alocate charges so its 5 health 0 fp or vice versa. They also get upgrades.

[BloodyHell]

44 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

So at the church I exchange golden seeds for flasks? I never seen an option like that. 

 

I was just attempting to beat the dragon on the lake and that was comical. Then I found a chest that was a trap in the ruins next to the dragon that put me in hell. Now I'm going to die and lose 4k runes. This game is so hard and difficult to understand as a noob to the series. 

Any grace site. You get the items at most churches.

[Best]

What's the flask of cerulean for? Never used it. At a grace site I allocated to get 5 flasks of crimson tears. So that's good. 

 

28 minutes ago, Bacon said:

watch this

 

 

And it won't require 3 golden seeds for you. It starts out only costing 1 golden seed to upgrade.

 

Ok I'm going to watch this now. Thanks.

 

Edit: @Baconthats what I did to increase my flasks. How do you get more golden seeds?

[Bacon]

Just now, best3444 said:

flask of cerulean

mana(FP) potion 

[Best]

1 minute ago, Bacon said:

mana(FP) potion 

 

But I never use mana for my character...

[Bacon]

Just now, best3444 said:

 

But I never use mana for my character...

...OK?

[BloodyHell]

3 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

But I never use mana for my character...

So change it to a health flask

[Xbob42]

I think I spent too much time dicking around with side stuff before getting on the main path again. That and I busted my ass facing an optional side boss that dropped a weapon I now have at like +6.

 

I finally got to the much lauded Margit and beat the shit out of him in 5-6 hits without being touched... whoops. Kind of wishing there was at least a little level/power scaling so I couldn't become this wildly strong. I'm only level 33 and while that's pretty high for Margit, I put the vast majority of my points into endurance, so I have like 18 STR, 17 VIT, and 25ish endurance, so it's not like I'm brimming with power. I'm also butt naked most of the time aside from my weapon to keep my light roll (I can wear gloves AND a helmet now without losing light roll, woo endurance!) and I have base 10 vitality so I still often die in a single hit from bigger enemies.

 

I even... (mild side spoilers related somewhat to Margit and an optional item)

Spoiler

found a cave with Patches in it, that fucking asshole, and gladly slaughtered him as he begged for mercy. Turned his bell earrings in and bought the 5k item that keeps Margit grounded... never got to find out what it did. Unless maybe it severely weakens him or something just by owning it? Could've sworn it was a usable, but I never even had it on my bar because I didn't know when I'd come across Margit as I'm riding totally blind.

The art in this game is on another level, and some of the enemy design work in particular is absolutely stellar. Just some wild designs like certain crows and big headed dogs look amazing, so much cool stuff. Every vista is incredible and makes you want to explore because unlike a lot of recent open world games (even the really good ones) there's actual treasure I want to fucking get all over the place. Every new weapon is either a new move set or a new ash of war or just a badass aesthetic with great sound design.

 

Even traps can be exciting... (spoilers for a certain treasure chest, dunno where it was, but I'm gonna say what happened when I opened it)

Spoiler

I get to some random chest at the top of some broken down tower. It teleports me SUPER close to the Erdtree in some crazy ass city. I'm clearly in a small section that it looks like I could've accessed much later in the game, but it's me vs this huge fire giant. Spent half my night trying to tune my equipment just right and learn his patterns. Just a midboss, not even a real boss. But even with my super OP weapon dealing 200-300 damage per swing it takes a good 7-8 solid minutes of battle and not making any mistakes (every move except one one-shots me) before he goes down. Got a few thousand souls and a talisman that slowly regens HP, as well as some weird device I can't use yet. There's a grace there so I can teleport back and check it out more later, despite being a very small section. I got a more on-the-beaten-track chest that teleported me into this crystal cave full of crystal miners that was a real son of a bitch where I got quite a bit of loot, but couldn't even really touch the boss, so I ran outside and it was some red swamps I hadn't been to yet with the big-headed dog and crows. When a treasure chest can contain a fucking mini-dungeon or a shortcut to a new area you've taken treasure to another level.

I was really worried reviewers were overhyping this game. After all I've been getting kind of burned out for souls games as I'm sure I've complained about here for years now. I pretty much was borderline not liking Sekiro, and didn't find it nearly as hard as people said, which seemed to be its main appeal.

But this is something else entirely. I've always wondered what the Souls games would be like in an open world because they have such interesting worlds. But I figured From wouldn't be able to pull it off and just imagined a sad Souls version of Dragon's Dogma, which ironically is what Elden Ring reminds people of, but only about the good parts of Dragon's Dogma, not the shitty parts like a dead, boring world.

 

They really seem to have nailed it. With such a strange and beautiful world, exploration is rewarding for the views alone, but there's also great treasure and even seeing new enemies is a treat. The horse offers easy of travel and horse combat is actually fun. Giving it a double jump and allowing it to be so easily summoned? Pure genius. I do a lot of horse platforming that makes "Skyrimming" seem tame in comparison. This thing needs like 1 pixel of space to stand on so you can really just climb anything, and the double jump (with which you can change direction entirely upon activating, so you can jump out one direction then jump back in to get to a higher ledge) makes it not only possible, but really fun.

All the optional content has been fantastic so far and the only thing that vaguely feels like open world bloat is all the shit you can collect by spamming Y/triangle as you ride around, and even that is instant rather than some annoying animation.

 

The Souls games have always kind of reminded me of Zelda, but like Zelda I eventually grew tired of the predictable formula, and yet again like Zelda once they made an open world and somehow nailed it first try, I'm fully back onboard, and I don't think I want to go back to the old way. There doesn't seem to be anything back in that direction. You can play this like a totally linear Souls game already because the open world just adds to the sense of exploration and discovery rather than mindlessly bloating the game or stretching content paper thin with lots of travel time. Any little landmark can have a bespoke, compelling secret, and the land truly feels dangerous even as you gain power.

 

It's far too early to say for sure, but this really does seem like it'll go down as one of the all-time greats. I really hope they can get some performance patches out quick, because that's the only thing really distracting me at this point, what with only the PS5 running the PS4 version getting a truly solid experience. Otherwise the consoles get a bit of stutter and some frame drops, and the PC gets a bunch more stutter and frame drops, all for seemingly no reason. The FPS unlocker is really helping in this regard but when using it I have to play online. REALLY hope unlocked FPS is part of one of the upcoming patches. The game is soooo nice at 120FPS.

[Best]

14 minutes ago, Bacon said:

...OK?

 

13 minutes ago, BloodyHell said:

So change it to a health flask

 

I did. Where is the boss, margit?

[Paperclyp]

I’m trying to go into the margit fight pretty low level and his second form destroys me lol. Need to level up a bit. 

[atom631]

Well I beat Magrit…but he also killed me at the same time. When I respawned my runes were glowing on the ground so i grab em…..and I got zero runes. I read the reward is 12K runes? fuck me, that is a total motivation destroyer. Thats like 3-4 level ups. 

[Biggie]

7 minutes ago, atom631 said:

Well I beat Magrit…but he also killed me at the same time. When I respawned my runes were glowing on the ground so i grab em…..and I got zero runes. I read the reward is 12K runes? fuck me, that is a total motivation destroyer. Thats like 3-4 level ups. 

Damn bro that stings 

 

Also I’m curious do any of you use auto-lock on? I turned it off. 

[Bacon]

Question about performance for people on PC. Is my processer holding me back from reaching 60fps? I have an... "Intel Core i7 6700K @ 4.00GHz"

 

GPU is an 4095MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (EVGA) btw. 

 

The reason why I ask this is because I basically can't hit a stable 60fps pretty much ever. I notice that is seems like getting combat suddenly makes the game more stable, but it isn't perfect. I know my setup isn't exactly ideal, but I have tried every default profile and I seem to get exactly the same performance. It doesn't seem to matter if I have it on max or low. TBH, I feel like game seems more jittery if on low. Oh, and my monitor is 2k I've lowered it to 1080 to test and no difference. That's what is really odd to me. I was able to get cyberpunk to play nice with my machine. It was pretty stable. And I'm not even talkin about stuttering when it comes ER. The frames seem so variable that I can never notice the stuttering because I have never seen an stable frame rate. 

[Bloodporne]

I really like how dark areas REQUIRE a torch now. And they play on that fully now, something they had promised with DS2 promo material if anyone remembers that.

[Best]

33 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

 

I did. Where is the boss, margit?

 

Anyone?

[Biggie]

Ok I’ll ask again.  Do any of you play with auto-lock off or do you leave it on?