Elden Ring: YOU DIED on a horse

i ended up turning off the marble after dog latin mentioned it was possible, but i'm still not sure exactly what triggered turning it off. i was looking for a lever to pull but i guess it was triggered by something else i did in that area (being vague to avoid specific spoilers).

I think it's that spot where you exit the big courtyard, the way other than coming from the marble or going up the elevator. You can jump or shimmy to another platform and go up the ladder, which puts you above the marble. There must have been something there to turn it off?

Trayce, the other Souls games may not be for you, a run back to the boss was just standard procedure for years (you get pretty good at zig-zagging past the enemies on the way there). Trying to think of what the worst one is...maybe Queelag in DS1, where you have to cross the poison swamp while giants are throwing boulders at you to get back to the boss?

I wonder how many dungeons I missed in this game. Just saw a video containing the 'Azuria Side Tomb', which I had definitely never seen before.

The run to the Ancient Hero in Demon's Souls is absolute hell, though he is not hard himself when you get there

Ornstein and Smough prog the worst for the difficulty of the fight and the fact that you have to summon that fuckin ridiculous rube Goldberg elevator again every time you die

You were going all that way for O&S?! You can open that shortcut to the room near the bonfire and just run by a few knights. Or do the thing where you jump off the spiral staircase.

*nintendo tipline operator from 1989 pops his head out*

"AND don't forget, you can hit up, down, down, up, select, select, select to start the game with an extra flask!"

Dah fuck!!

not really. but if from games were in the 1980s, they definitely would had done that shit

i wonder if anyone has ever made a full on Envoy's Horn + Oracular Bubble build? it's a lot more fun when you're the one tooting the horn!

I've seen it, it looks like...a blast.

I dont mind re-schlepping to the boss, but not when I'm killed 2.5 seconds after i get there :(

So after you merk the hecking knight after the marble run, you can jump out a window to your left. There's a mage there so watch out. Keep going, climb a tall ladder and there are some fairly tricky baddies up there. But if you manage to beat them, the marble shuts off and the run gets just that bit easier

uh, i found millicent, i found the guy in the shack who wanted me to save her, he told me to head to the swamp to get something, and when i showed up there, millicent invaded me, so i killed her.

?
:(

it's too bad, because i just found commander o'neill and easily dispatched him. i guess i was supposed to know it was Millicent invading and not hurt her?

whatever. i'm roleplaying here and when you invade me you cross a line

https://i.imgur.com/dUHmfvv.jpg

Wow, good job killing her, she used waterfowl dance on me and then I could never get her to invade again.

I don't think killing invader Millicent affects her actual quest, though.

yeah, was about to say, she's alive and well! guess killing her invading version was not the "real" her, which i can respect

I have that aristocrat jacket too! I like how it gives me a big fat bum.

someone on ilx just defeated a shardbearer! :D

KM that image

It fills me with happiness and familiarity

LMAO @ KM's screenshot.

I never got Roderika's crimson hood, but I rock the navy one quite regularly.

I got round to giving this a go on the PS5 - the difference visually is stark, and its being comparred on basically similar 4K samsung TVs but on the PS5 you can see every thread and scale and wart. It loads like a demon too. PLaytime possibly alittle more responsive? I've gotten better myself so I cant tell whats that and whats the console.

Started a new prisoner build just out of testing/boredom and was level 26 within a couple hours, now that I know what Im doing. But I found a few things I seem to have completely missed on all my other playthroughs! One of the artist shacks. A few caves. a very nice incantation from a dungbeetle I'll need to go make my faith build go look for (bloodflame blade).

My eyes (which are having severe dry eye problems) are freaking KILLING me.

Yes, starting new builds is a fun way to show yourself that you have, in fact, gotten better at the game. On a whim I made a new save as a Prophet (my original starting class was Prisoner) and went to the cave with the Beastman, and beat him in one try. In my original playthrough it took me like, at least a dozen tries!

this game is so good

That horse parkour you have to do to get to the top of caelid tower to activate the rune is rage inducing, but I got there in the end.

I spent about 3 hours fighting Rennala today. Not quite there yet. The targeting system makes phase 1 really irritating, I know who I have to hit but if I use targeting it targets the wrong damn minion, if I dont use it I'm flailing my katana around like an idiot. Most of my deaths have been for STUPID reasons too like forgetting to duck her laser beam or not avoiing the chandeleir falling on me. I can get about halfway thru phase 2 then something does me in.

I dont co-op, so whatre the best spirit ashes on her? Ive been using wolfys but I have loads of others (inc mimic tear)

I wish I could work out how to share the screenshot I did of my magnificent, beardly old man in his flowing Lazuli robe and sparkly Nokron antler headgear.

I would recommend a tankier spirit ash than the wolves for that fight, and to save it until the second phase, if possible. IIRC I beat Renalla with Aurelia the Jellyfish at my side.

I beat her with the wolves, I think I just got lucky with her only killing one of them with the death ray and the other two stunlocked her a couple of times at useful moments

Think I used the skeletons after failing with marionette archers. Just needed something mobile and distracting

Yeah that was my thinking with the wolves, they hit and stun and theres 3 of them. I have a couple other multiple-dude ashes I could try. I thought about doing the Ancestor ashes but he shoots magic arrows, she'd be immune to that right?

Well I'm finally here, at the last boss(es). Radagon is manageable, but by the time I get to Elden Beast--is this even still a spoiler? I'm all outta flasks. Time to git gud (or keep grinding), I reckon.

the wolves are good for rennala. if you can, i recommend calling them just before you hit her for the last time in phase 1. that way they carry over to phase 2 but you don’t have to waste time trying to call them before dodging the death ray.

also in phase 1 it’s best to not kill the minions throwing books at you. you just have to hit them once for it to count, and if you kill too many of them it gets hard to find the ones throwing books at you because they’re in the outer ring instead of in the middle.

you want to try and work quickly to avoid getting to the phase where she throws tombstones at you etc. find the three important minions, hit them once each, then pound away at her once she falls

in phase 2 she was the rare boss where my default strategy of just hacking away at her a bunch seemed to work. if you can keep whaling away at her she can’t get her spells going as much. for once it pays to be aggressive and impatient lol.

Haha yeah I have been clobbered with the tombstones a few times.

I'm using a katana - I cant use any heavy weapons due to low STR - but I'm wondering of light weapons if it makes any diff if I use a katana, broadsword or rapier? prob not as long as its + is high I assume?

I don't imagine it would--I know in some cases different types of weapons matter, eg, blunt/strike weapons being more effective against armor han slashing/piercing ones. But I think any type of physical damage suffices against Rennala.

I'll just keep chipping away then! It really doesnt seem like it should be hard. Its just ANNOYING :D

For once, I'm starting to feel a bit Elden Ringed out. I can't beat the Fire Giant. I'm having difficulty getting down below the sewers because of an impossible "fall off the tiny ledge onto an even tinier ledge" challenge. And I found the Consecrated Snowfield and a town where invisible assassins one-hit sneak attack you. It's all really really tough

Funnily enough, I was over at a friend's yesterday, and she was at the same point in the game. The difficulty curve spikes precipitously around Niall/Giant/Ninja Town, and the Snowfields/Mountaintops don't offer enough titillation to motivate one to be as fastidious in exploring/levelling as previous regions. idk what to say, it only spikes again with the final two regions and final few bosses!

DL, a tip about the invisible assassins--there's a torch you can buy in Altus that, when equipped, makes them visible.

also dog latin, if you light the torches in that town they don't go back out so it can be achieved through trial and erroring your way through paths that will let you get to one torch at a time and light it without being YOU DIED, then getting inevitably YOU DIED and then finding the path to the next torch that allows you to light it without getting YOU DIED

DL -- I always hate to recommend a specific build for a boss, but the Fire Giant might be a case where bleed is a massive help because of his huge health pool. I got him on the third try, mostly due to Bloodflame Blade on a katana:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Reys5mcB8d0

And that platforming bit in the sewers was incredibly frustrating at first, but it's totally optional (and can affect the ending, if you care about that). I came back later and had better luck dropping down right by the flute player.

It also helps to take off all your clothes (which reduces fall damage and is also kinda necessary for the next bit).

There are some good items around there, but I think you need to get the madness enemies to break the tents with the items. A madness flame spell, and the best shield in the game.

Yeah now that I know theres multiple endings, I'm not even gonna bother with the sewers or malenia.

I'm going for the Moon Victory on this run I think. I did fairly easily beat Renalla just after my last post. I just need to be less TENSE and PANICKY when I play this game.

Now, before I hit Leyendell, I want to sweep up some side quests. Ranni, Blaidd, Jarburg... not sure what else.

Rya is one of my favourite NPCs. Sadly I broke her quest slightly and didn't get to see what happened to her at the end

Thanks for the tips upthread all. I had to look up a guide about that random torch. How the hell would I have guessed that? The merchant is miles away and quite hard to find, and I would never have guessed to buy and equip that torch in a million years

Oh btw I have just found out about how you can (should!) duplicate each great rune rememberance at the walking mausoleums before cashing in. I wish I'd fcking known that. Ive already done 2 and didnt dup them :(

you can still duplicate them after using them, but you can't duplicate all of them - there are only 7 mausoleums and you can only use them once per playthrough.

oh ok thats good. I was just wanting to dup to sell, tbh. Most of the weapons and gear are usless to me. I thought the grafted dragon would be fun but its just a little spurty flame, seemed dumb.

Thanks for the tips upthread all. I had to look up a guide about that random torch. How the hell would I have guessed that? The merchant is miles away and quite hard to find, and I would never have guessed to buy and equip that torch in a million years

I wish I was the type of player who reads the description of every item and figured stuff out like this on my own. The description makes it pretty clear, but I totally missed that merchant when going through the capital outskirts.