Elden Ring: YOU DIED on a horse

No shame in running through

you can also just walk around it and then hit everyone guarding the entrance from behind

unless you're talking about something else, I haven't entered the academy yet

Trayce, it sounds like you've progressed further than me in the game and I'm level 67. Still dweebing around Lirunia and haven't got to Renalla yet! Need to fight that annoying Knight in Raya Lucaria with the big marble that squashes you before you fight him.

Oh I havent foght any big boss aside from Godrick and Lenonine ! I just run into all these areas, blow raspberries, nick stuff and fuck off again, lol.

I only just now got the twinblade weapon, stumbled on it by chance (and then fell off the cliff lol) so I'm gonna give it a try with blood ashes.

Oh and i formally challenge all bad elden rings to a contest to see how slowly we can beat this game

Ha you are ON. I will see you back here in 2025.

NA I was frustrated by those magic-scking zombies too, if you let it happen they can overwhelm you completely.

Then I worked out its easier to just run, all the way to the ... ferris-wheel... thing. Which I then panic-jumped from and just happened to do so at the right bit without meaning to. There's another save spot after that.

This game sure is making me feel frustrated and stupid from time to time. I'd been told there was a stonesmith who sold smithing stones somewhere in Liurnia but didn't know exactly where. I'd spent AGES looking for a way to get to the north west of the map, including a good couple of hours mucking around in some underwhleming ruins where a secret boss was hiding. Eventually I caved and asked my partner where the smithing stone dude was. Turns out he was on the other side of a TEN FOOT WALL which you CANNOT SEE OR GET OVER in the EXACT area I'd spent AGES in the previous night, and the only way to access it was to find this one exact spot on an unassuming cliff edge and take a literal leap of faith into what looks like nothing to get around the wall. I would NEVER have gone back to that area in a million years, and I certainly wouldn't have even know dude was there if I hadn't been given a hint. I know that's sort of the point of this game, but fencing off a key part of the map like that feels incredibly harsh!

Cue: Everyone telling me they found the area really easily with no fuss!

(sorry if that's spoilery - should have hidden the text)

Haha I have actually no idea where it is you're talking about DL and I feel like I'm pretty familiar with Liurnia at this point

There was one character named something like Putney who is kinda tucked away inconspicuously inside the manor, I never ran into him in my normal playthrough, only found him when consulting guides, later

My PS5 is still bricked, and not under warranty, and it's gonna cost me 1/3rd of what I paid for it to get it repaired. Just to check and see if the problem WAS in fact the game unit, I plugged in my PS4 to test out the cable/TV input. Works fine. Oh hello! You mean I can just log into my PSN account and download already-purchased Elden Ring for PS4 and still have something to play while my PS5 is in the shop? I did so, and it looks rather good on PS4! but the load times were a few seconds longer, long enough for me to feel irritated. Plus, my boyfriend saw what I was doing and gave me a "we have to have a talk" look

I did watch a video last night, curious about how people do accelerated early-game builds. Apparently:

- you can ride Torrent around Caelid and pick up enough Somber Smithing Stones to get a weapon to +6
- you can cheese the Dragonbarrow Night's Cavalry by doing a trench run through the poison and net you 50k runes right away
- there's a weird way of killing the inert dragon that gets you 100k runes

I also find that watching videos of people playing PvP (who are good at it) is more enjoyable than actually playing PvP

Haha I have actually no idea where it is you're talking about DL and I feel like I'm pretty familiar with Liurnia at this point

There was one character named something like Putney who is kinda tucked away inconspicuously inside the manor, I never ran into him in my normal playthrough, only found him when consulting guides, later

I'm pretty sure this is the route to the manor - the only route I know of. I had been trying to find a way up the steep cliff towards it from the Lake, and finding nothing. That's what led to me pratting around in the Kingstemple Ruins (Kingstemple? I think so) for ages. If there's another way to get to the Manor, I'd love to know because this whole thing made me very cross indeed

above I meant Kings Realm Ruins and the stonesmith is called Ilj. I simply do not understand how anyone is meant to get over the wall without either totally fluking it or reading a guide because it's absolutely not obvious

The weird thing is that now I'm looking up guides, none of them seem to mention this ridiculous wall, they just say "Go north from X Grace Point", so I'm wondering if I've missed something obvious, despite having spent hours trying to reach it.

I'll shut up about this now, I'm just frustrated

Dl, are you talking about the friendly giant with the cool headwear? Sorry, I don't remember a crazy jump, I just happened upon him, I think you must have missed a path!

Yeah that's him. Reading a book. Every YouTube guide seems to say either you jump around the wall over a cliff (narrowly avoiding thin air) or there's one specific secret wall in the maze-like Kingsrealm ruins which you have to hit to reveal the path. On the East side of the wall there's a sheer cliff drop down towards the lakeside. So I'm bamboozled really.

DL, are you playing online? I seem to recall finding the wall in question because a friendly stranger had marked it with a message.

Ohhh, looking back I guess there was an illusory wall involved, which is not obvious (obviously).

lol fgti, forgive me but when you were initially talking about your work/Elden Ring/sleep schedule, I was thinking that you must be between relationships at the moment. :)

Bahahahahaha my bf might agree with you

I don't recall any issue with meeting Iji! I think I just approached the manor and there he was?

I think I completely forgot that Iji was next to an illusory wall

If I hadn't subbed to ps plus for a year just before this came out I don't think I would have found any of the illusory walls at all, but I would also have seen far fewer references to rump ahead and finger but hole so swings and roundabouts

I am level 64 60 hours in now. Finally pulled ahead of the 1 level an hour ratio by killing the dang prawn sorcerers and big lumbering shit dragon

I'm behind the curve! Level 100, 116 hours in. I could probably use some of the many golden runes I've been hoarding, but I generally save those for getting me just past the finish when I'm 2/3rds or closer to the next level. I'm at Volcano Manor right now, doubled back after exploring a little bit of the Mountaintops of the Giants. It feels like I may never truly finish this game.

Yeah, I'm the same. My mid-game leveling spot when I needed a couple of thou to push to a level up was the Volcano Manor interrogation chamber site of grace, backstab the mage, kill the cum slug guy after he whiffs his death grab, lightning Spear the fire slugs, back to the save point. Anybody got anything better? I can't reliably/quickly kill those annoying mobile flamethrower things to get the 2k they drop

I don't recall any issue with meeting Iji! I think I just approached the manor and there he was?

― flow, my crimson tears (flamboyant goon tie included), Wednesday, April 6, 2022 3:13 PM (twenty-two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Well this is it, my partner said "You just head north from the Gracepoint towards the massive Manor, you can't miss it" and I'm like "There is nothing here, just the ruins and a sheer cliff drop". She seemed to say she'd just trotted on up there - no mention of a wall, not even mention of the ruins. There weren't any messages left to tell me there was a wall or anything like that.

I mean, the wall is pretty high - it blocks the manor and Ilj (you can just about spot him through a hole in the wall if you're facing at exactly the right angle, but you'd need to be looking out for him - not the kind of thing you'd just see).

I'm behind the curve! Level 100, 116 hours in. I could probably use some of the many golden runes I've been hoarding, but I generally save those for getting me just past the finish when I'm 2/3rds or closer to the next level. I'm at Volcano Manor right now, doubled back after exploring a little bit of the Mountaintops of the Giants. It feels like I may never truly finish this game.

― feed me with your chips (zchyrs), Wednesday, April 6, 2022 3:26 PM (sixteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah, I'm the same. My mid-game leveling spot when I needed a couple of thou to push to a level up was the Volcano Manor interrogation chamber site of grace, backstab the mage, kill the cum slug guy after he whiffs his death grab, lightning Spear the fire slugs, back to the save point. Anybody got anything better? I can't reliably/quickly kill those annoying mobile flamethrower things to get the 2k they drop

― hiroyoshi tins in (Sgt. Biscuits), Wednesday, April 6, 2022 3:34 PM (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

You are not behind the curve - I'm over a hundred hours in and only about lvl 68 or something and only just today got to Renalla. Are people doing a lot of runefarming to get to this level, or just continuing the quest? I tend to use the Farum Greatbridge farm which gets me about 7000+ runes in a few minutes, but like you say, I try to only resort to this to get to the next level

I don't know what the farum greatbridge is! V easy to have wildly varying play experiences even dozens of hours in it seems

It basically makes me anxious that the bosses in this are greater in number, generally don't drop enough runes to level up in one go, but can still kill you just as quickly. So I tend to compulsively grind to get to the level up if I'm even like half of the way there, otherwise I just buy crossbow bolts or stonesword keyed or whatever

Also there are some hefty stat requirements for weapons and miracles I want to use that I'm still nowhere near so I always want to stick down a point of faith here or there wherever I possibly can

I don't really rune farm, but I do a lot of doubling back to catacombs, caves, and evergaols that I didn't do (or find) the first time through an area. Also, a *lot* of dying and re-killing the same enemies over and over in various areas. Souls games actually *reward* you for death, provided you remember to grab your runes again each time.

I tend to burn through Golden Runes to level up because their value decreases the more you level up, I never hoard them except unintentionally. There doesn't seem to be very much of the "save up for a big item" that you found in previous SoulsBorne games. Always top up your runes to level up when you can!

I've actually never rune-farmed yet. I seem to get plenty just by going through the level, although I do tend to kill everything I see. And then whenever I hit a grace I use golden runes to get up to that 'level up' threshold.

I'm level 110, probably 90 hours in.

PVP and helping people with bosses does net a decent out of runes, although with pvp I lose them half the time because I get killed deep within the level, and I'm too lazy to go retrieve my runes before doing the next invasion.

It basically makes me anxious that the bosses in this are greater in number, generally don't drop enough runes to level up in one go, but can still kill you just as quickly. So I tend to compulsively grind to get to the level up

Yeah, it's quite frustrating fighting your way through a big dungeon, killing loads of enemies and racking up the runes only to open the door to a boss and have them OP you, leaving your runes in the arena. The only way to rescue them (assuming you can't kill the boss) is to grab them and quit out the game - you'll restart outside the arena with your runes intact, although admittedly it's a bit of a cheat

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention doing occasional co-op has also been a good source of runes (and rune arcs! use them!) for me.

PVP and helping people with bosses does net a decent out of runes, although with pvp I lose them half the time because I get killed deep within the level, and I'm too lazy to go retrieve my runes before doing the next invasion.

― change display name (Jordan), Wednesday, April 6, 2022 3:58 PM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I've hardly done any of this. I've tag teamed a couple of bosses with my partner, and also we've duelled a few times, but she's like level 110 now so it's not much of a fair fight

I still need to get my head around how the Rune Arcs work. I've got the thing from Godrick and equipped it into the Rune thingy? But apparently I need to do something now so I can use it? Can you use them just once? I'm scared of wasting it - they're hard to come by!

You use the Rune Arc to activate that Great Rune that you have equipped, and it boosts all of your stats by like 5 levels until your next death.

If you don't have very many rune arcs, I wouldn't use it the first time you try a boss or if you're not getting close to winning. But if you've tried them a few times and you just need a bit more damage or survivability to seal the deal, it can make the difference.

You can get them through co-op if you want to help people with bosses.

Yeah, using Godrick's rune that way helped me take down Morgott.

I always save hard runes as long as I can. Lord runes (the big ones you start getting toward end-of-game) are kinda like currency in the online trading market, so it's good to hold on to them so you can trade one for some item you don't have/want a duplicate of.

When I do use my hard runes is either to reach-the-finish-line of an almost-enough-for-a-level-up situation, or when I run into somebody/something that requires runes I don't have (a vendor, for example)

It's good to hold on to them! So many times I've double-died and gone broke and wanted to upgrade something immediately and was happy to have them as a resource

wait what's the deal with this online trading market?!

Patches Emporium on Reddit. I wanted to try out a dual Rivers Of Blood, and somebody was looking for the rarely dropped complete Haligtree Knight set, which I had several.

It seems as if a lot of people want help muling +9 weapons and late-game talismans from their completed game back to a low-level character. I'd enjoy to try that for sure! but maybe some other time I am so burned out on this game

xxp yeah Golden Runes are handy for emergency purchases, that's true, I just get more value out of using them as I find them

I really wish there would have been a mechanic to duplicate weapons, the same way you can duplicate remembrances at the walking mausoleums. Maybe they want you to dual wield different weapons of the same type rather than the same one, but everyone is using workarounds to get doubles. I keep meaning to find a time with a friend so I can drop an extra St. Trina's sword to my new character.

(I do think it's kinda lame to drop a bunch of end-game gear to your friend who just started their first playthrough, but whatever)

I... kind of wish the opposite? that the game made it impossible to doubly-equip unique armaments? As they do with talismans? It seems to make more sense.

It is cute that there's only one melee weapon that inflicts sleep though! it's like they're encouraging you to do something that involves pots or greases as well, to make it work

also, i call the horse Birdie because Torrent is not a good enough name for the horse imo

― Karl Malone, Tuesday, April 5, 2022 10:46 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

awww

This game... You can spend hours and hours getting absolutely nowhere and then the next day you discover loads and loads of stuff

Managed to merk Renalla and also a lizard boss who was all the way up a cliff, finally getting to the Plateau. I peeked a guide and found out there is an easier way to get up there, but how to do that is extremely not obvious unless I missed something important in the NPC dialogue.

I've started having to write down notes in my phone to keep track of the various character quests. NPCs spout what sounds like utter gobbledegook and never repeat that info again

that's the OG way of reaching the Plateau, fuck that big lift

Admittedly, I've done both now (although I cheated with the lift, looking up a guide). I keep saying it, but there is so much in this game that is "How the hell would I know to do that?"

I suppose the idea, for true hardcore players, is that you're not meant to rush through it in under 200 hours, but play in a slow, exploratory way, circling back on yourself, going back to speak to NPCs from way earlier in the game, keeping fastidious notes about the lore and the various side quests, reading every item description and noting even the most oblique references.

Or you can use loads of online guides, check every message and bloodstain, and still have a rip-roaring time. I don't like quests ending for no apparent reason though. Still salty about Edgar.

Did you ever go back to his castle and see if he was still there waiting for his sword? He was for me

So this Ilj giant blacksmith guy… I was rushing up towards the manor, picked up a site of grace along the way, then carried on to the manor, blue stuff fell from the sky, next site of grace, enter manor, got attacked by hands, screamed, killed a hand, died to a hand, repeat several times.

Eventually backtracked to that site of grace I'd picked up on the way and he was just sitting there… I thought 'how did I miss you?' but I assumed I'd just been dopey on my earlier panic run. So all this about him being behind a wall… feels like something strange is going on.

(In the end I just ran past all the hands. And ran past the transparent magic soldiers. Running past things is so effective!)

xp to Trayce

Did you ever go back to his castle and see if he was still there waiting for his sword? He was for me

― Stoop Crone (Trayce), Thursday, April 7, 2022 10:53 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah I went there but he wasn't there. Then I went to where Irina had been and she was dead. No explanation, no nothing

Another broken thing: I've been asked to give a potion to Nepheli. I find her in the Village of Albinaurics but there's no option to give it to her. I am getting a bit sick of stuff like this happening constantly. I'm assuming I haven't done something in the right order, but does it have to be so fussy??