Elden Ring: YOU DIED on a horse

Decided to respec to a build that uses the Sword Of Night And Flame in one hand, and the Prince of Death's staff in the other.
The build is predicated on using the twin battle arts from the sword, but it's a bit fiddly as you can't use this when you're on horseback

I'm trying to find that one sorcerer that taught Sellen and I can't find the path at all. This part of the game has always confused me

Yes.

There are two spurs that feel the same but are completely different. One is the descent after Fallingstar Beast (to the right of the Manor, where the map fragment is).

The other is to the left of that complicated hard-castle with the lethal perfumers and the Briar Knight fight at the end. (Shaded Castle? Or some other name? God I can’t remember).

But I remember getting to the end of one spur and thinking “where the fuck am I this is not what I wanted”

Apparently there's a chance to meet (and get tricked by) Patches if you ride up to Volcano Manor the long way before meeting him at the Manor itself, but I've never managed to do this

I have to say, there are parts in this.playthrough I'm avoiding unless I absolutely have to. Most notably catacombs. I'm sticking a skull on them on the map to remind me to come back to them if I absolutely must

I had to come back to Volcano Manor multiple times to find that path around it with the tree spirit. Also on my recent playthrough I never found the path that opens the door back to the entrance hall in the manor (but I was ignoring basically all quests). Also accidentally killed Patches because by the time I went back to they first cave, I was too powerful and basically smote him in a couple hits.

I've vowed to be more observant in the DLC and try to do everything properly, maybe even backtrack, but I always say that and always miss a bunch.

I had thought I'd "100%'d" the game with every object imaginable acquired, and then realised I'd missed an entire area and boss (the kidnapping way into Volcano Manor)

i guess it's pretty smart that there are so many routes to VM, including being able to warp there in two different ways, because otherwise it would be a little confusing as to why you'd even go there in the first place

yeah it’s an oddly important locus. i like that! the way different plot lines can get to it, in the way that, say, the original dark souls did with its geography, ER does with its storylines. it really is a marvellous game.

I only found Jarburg after playing the game 200 hours. My last playthrough I accidentally killed one, which locks up Jar Bairn's side quest (and can't be fixed at the Church of Vows iirc), so I just massacred the lot. On NG+3 now and I'm actually doing it, haven't killed a jar there yet

I've been going back to Elden Ring recently, currently trying to get my head around Mt Gelmir and all its strange interlocking paths.

Coming back after having gone and played the other Souls games, I can kiiiind of see why there are some who criticise it.

Obvs the scope of the game the size, the lore, the amount of weapons and spells and items and the fact you can jump and use torrent are all massively big factors buuuut....

There's something about it that's missing from it that makes me pine for DS2

I think it's to do with how in DS2 especially, you're compelled to work super consistently and methodically through an area. You have to move like stealthy molasses or you die, and often you have to learn to do everything the "right" way before you can move on. There's no choice, no getting around it.

You become a master of each area, so to speak

You can try running through an area but chances are it will go badly for you. Before you know it, you'll've kited a group of enemies into a corner and you can't get out

In ER very few enemies are actually mandatory. The only real reason to clear out an area is to collect runes so you can level up. Much of the time, even in catacombs and dungeons you can just run past them and they'll de-aggro. Field bosses are a bit like that too

It's not that it's necessarily easier, because it's not easy at all, and a lot of the bosses and levels are nails. Often there are a lot more enemies around the place to compensate.

But its a different playing style. There's less methodicalness, less stress placed on clearing out an area so you can move freely onto the next one or explore it for treasure in peace.

Like, I love Stormveil - every Souls game seems to have a Stormveil analogue and they're all brilliant, and it's arguably the pinnacle of that style of area. Part of the fun of those is just the sheer number of hidden paths, which you don't get so much with DSx. But even in Stormveil you can get away with a more random, flightier style of play

^ I felt this way about DeS, which extremely felt this way. Before Elden Ring came out I was thinking "how can a design so focused on micro-training translate into an open world?"

It's a concession that's made with the open world format. Where in the DSx games, enemies will be placed in more-or-less a line which you are best-off aggroing and fighting one at a time, I ER you might come across a whole wide field full of enemies largely scattered around or clustered into groups, which aren't usually too hard to fight all at once.

Something that might have worked is if FromSoft had made it so that aggro ranges changed depending on the environment. So for example in narrower, more linear areas like caves and catacombs, enemies would chase you a bit more and you might not be able to just run / dodge past them all

You're right, fgti, even in 2-2 in DeS, enemies will follow you right down that series of jumps, often to their deaths

New story trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uT8wGtB3yQ

dog latin if you're looking to up the ante I think there's a talisman you can equip that ups an enemy's aggro and keep their focus on you.

Oh no, certainly not. The difficulty isn't what I'm talking about. Elden Ring is plenty hard. It's just a different vibe, different way of playing, and now I've gone back to the earlier games I can see why that might make hardcore Souls fans feel different about ER

I enjoyed the new trailer very much. It told me nothing other than... maybe Nepheli Loux has some link to the DLC? Big if true!

Been up the last two nights till stupid o'clock trying to get my current playthrough ready for the DLC. Ugh, much as I love this game, I don't miss my addiction to it.

Great to go back and refamiliarise myself with certain areas I don't already know like the back of my hand. Also, as this is a "no-farming" playthrough, I'm having to think harder about the order I tackle it in. Still use mimic tear where I can though.

Also, now I'm pretty familiar with the lore and how to "read" Elden Ring the correct way, it's very rewarding. I'm trying to do the NPC quests "correctly" - without a guide this is almost impossible, but I've got a pretty good handle on who to speak to and when these days, and I'm even finding some fun dialogue I hadn't heard before: Jarbairn talking in his sleep about how lovely and soft Diallos's hands are made me laugh.

Shaded Castle was never my favourite area (poison swamps, royal revanants), but fighting Elemer of the Briar was a blast. In my initial playhthrough I came to him quite late-game but he's a tough dude if you're only about Level 90.

Had a good old poke around Dominula Village too. A strange area that's more about vibe than difficulty. Bit strange that it's flanked on either side by similar-looking mini villages though - not sure about that decision really.

Last night I also did the majority of Volcano Manor. It's such a good legacy dungeon, and like all the best ones in this game I still get a bit lost and confused even though I've played it through a lot of times - especially the last part after Temple of Eiglay. It's much bigger than it is in my head.

I need some sleep

Ha I saw you were online when I was playing. I saw that all the big Souls youtube people dropped their 'I got to play the DLC for 3 hours' videos, do not want to see those. Although I did strategically click on one just for the new weapon classes, which sound extremely fun. Lots of throwing weapons that are non-consumable!

I took a peek at Vaati's one and he is known for getting straight to the matter with no intro, so I immediately switched it off. I am so excited for the DLC.

Also, I've been dipping my toes into multiplayer - something I never really fucked with before, mostly because I rarely seemed to match with anyone. But I've been putting down my sign for co-op a few times and if anything it's a neat way to experience these areas in a new way while earning some extra runes.

Might even try some pvp at some point.

I'm still confused about all these different multiplayer options though: What's the difference between half of them? Does it make a difference if I'm a recusant or a bloody finger? What are all these things?

Recusant & bloody finger are the same thing, no differences once you get it, just different quest paths. The other ones are basically the difference between putting your co-op sign down in a specific place vs sending it to a summoning pool (either nearby or faraway).

There's also the duelist sign - everyone used to have duels outside of the Raya Lucaria main gate, but I think that stopped after they introduced the arenas (although I don't know how active those are right now either?). If you try pvp I definitely recommend a lot of duels before invasions, which can be very frustrating in ER compared to the other games. Invasions require a lot of caution and a lack of mercy because everyone is capable of high damage weapon arts /spells/status effects, so they can end very quickly. In Dark Souls 3 there was a lot more room for playing around and silly hijinx imo.

Man if you don't get to fight Lady Tannith Snakegod in this DLC then it's no star

Haha. I killed her in Rykard's arena in my last playthrough so that I could fight her knight.

Seriously though, I'm hoping there are a few harkbacks and loose ends tied up in this thing beyond "here's some other bullshit and a bunch of new charcaters that are only tangentially related to the rest of the story".
Like, Rykard strongly hints that he will be back after you kill him, and the fact this major (but optional) sidestory doesn't have its own ending always felt sus to me

I feel you, but I'm wondering if they won't do anything that could conflict with the main game (ie you might not have encountered Rykard yet when you play the dlc)? Or maybe Final Form Rykard would make sense regardless of whether or not you killed him in the base game.

Very true. It's hard enough getting the npc quests to work properly

I've made it to the Mountaintops, which heralds the start of the part of the game I'm least interested in.

That said, one of the reasons I rushed through Leyndell is because I've come to realise my current quest this run-through is NOT to become Elden Lord.
It's to track down and kill Juno Hoslow. Not because I want to progress Diallos's quest. Not even because I want his whip. But because I want to finish all the Recusant quests before fighting Rykard and getting that sweet Blasphemous Blade.

It's interesting that you have to wait till you're well into the Mountaintops before you can finish that whole Recusant questline. My guess is that most people will just end up fighting Rykard before then.

Leyndell continues to confuse me, layout-wise. Even on my fourth playthrough, I don't feel like I truly understand the map of the city at all. There are so many side-streets, so many crossroads and distractions. Plus the enemies are SUPER TOUGH, so in having to fight them, I'm constantly being disoriented about where I am going. I can't even find the area with the well that takes you to the Shunning Grounds. It's HUGE even when compared to the other legacy dungeons in this game.

On my last playthrough Leyndell was the place that really stuck out as being just as labyrinthine the second time around. It took me forever to figure out the sewers, and I still have the sense that I missed things.

At a friend's 44th birthday party last night he asked if I could drop him the Magic Scorpion talisman, but I've never ever done Seluvis' quest properly.

Ah yeah I did that one on this playthrough (I'm trying to do all the quests "properly"). It's pretty convoluted

I did loads of Elden Ringing last night: Explored the first area of Mountaintops, fought Juno Hoslow, completed Diallos's quest in Jarburg, fought and killed Rykard, finished Tannith's quest, watched Patches expire(?!?!)

Thoguh it would be fun to livestream it from PS5, although wouldn't expect anyone to watch all this. If you do, apologies for the odd bit of seasonal allergy-related sniffling. After I stopped broadcasting I managed to get all the way to Mohg, but he kicked my arse.

I'd love to know how to edit videos down in YouTube but for some reason whenever I follow tutorials, my UI is different to the one I'm being shown.
Also, people were livechatting me during the broadcast but I couldn't see the comments - they were flashing up in the corner of my screen but I couldn't see them on my phone for some reason. This morning I logged into YouTube on my computer and I could see them there, but it was a bit annoying. Why is YouTube such a fiddle?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5It1WHaD3o

Beat Mohg after a fair bit of difficulty. Then I figured I'd start playing through to the Haligtree rather than re-do the Mountaintops/CFA again, since that's an area I've only played through once.

I'm a pretty big fan of Castle Sol on a ludic level. It's relatively bereft of enemies, but the ones you do fight are tough as nails, and some are partly invisible so you have to be on guard for the whole thing. On a lore level it's a little confusing though. My understanding is that the Lands Between don't have a celestial Sun, and most of the light comes from the Erdtree. But here's a faction who use the Sun as their banner symbol, and there's evidence that Miquella came here intending to cause an eclipse - but why and how, I don't know.

Once I got the secret medallion and took the Grand Lift Of Rold to the Consecrated Snowfields, I noticed a severe difficulty spike. Depending on your level, you can easily get one-shot by those Albinauric archers in the Snowfields. I also had tremendous difficulty fighting the Sanguine Noble that invades you when you get to the transporter that takes you to Mohgwyn Palace. Interesting that they place this so late into the game, whereas I could imagine the vast number of players take Varre's shortcut from Liurnia.

There's more to Consecrated Snowfields than first meets the eye - for those who plough through it due to the empty-looking whiteness of the area, it's worth poking around its peripheries. There are some cool things going on there you might have missed.

I, however, was keen to get to the Haligtree so I went to Ordina Liturgical Town. Man, I hate this area. I also hate Sellia for similar reasons. Zelda-style gamey puzzles while trying to avoid very tough enemies who can appear out of nowhere and one-shot you. Also my Faith build doesn't have that much in the way of ranged weapons.
The trick to this one turns out to be the use of the talismans that cover your sound and make you partly invisible. Carrying the Sentry Torch also means you should be able to spot the Black Knife Assasins, who can still find you and attack you if you're not careful. Thankfully they do not respawn if you get them first.
As for the archers on this level, it's a pain in the arse. Even with a good ranged weapon, their own range and ability to fire multiple arrows at a time can do serious damage to you. I've never enjoyed this place.

I'm now in the parkour-y section of the Haligtree. It's alright - the enemies aren't super tough, but it's easy to get lost in the network of branches, and when those marshmallow guys start trumpeting bubbles from on high, it's very off-putting.

I love the haligtree. Such a cool design. The whole thing including the legacy dungeon part.

I liked the Haligtree more on my recent playthrough when I thought of the upper section as one of those Sonic the Hedgehog bonus levels, with running past everything as the intended strat.

The Haligtree never posed a problem for me as a platforming area, but I found the bubble blowers extremely difficult to deal with. That trench run down the scarlet rot branch toward the trio of shitheads is nightmarish.

Elphail in comparison is prob my favourite single FromSoft area, perhaps tied with the entirety of 1-X in Demon's Souls and/or Undead Burg circuit in DS1

I'm running as an int/dex character in NG+2 currently (my only character, and the one I'll be using for the DLC), and attempted Ordina again dreading it. This time around, I retraced the steps to each candle and honestly I only really needed the Sentry Torch to off the black knife assassin for the first candle.

The other three I just needed to find the right path to, and for the last one, was able to block and then confront the archers enough to push them off the roof to get to the last candle. Only died twice in the process and it was much smoother. Didn't need to consult a guide.

For the Haligtree, which I have mostly cleared with the exception of Malenia (still need to beat her, took a break after like 20 attempts), I loved playing the first part as a magic user. Was able to mostly shoot down all the envoys and ants and get all the important items for once. Easily one of my favorite areas in the entire game - from the branches to the roots!

Malenia is such a pain though, she's extra challenging against a magic user I feel. Almost tempted to respec super bonk style (dual Great Stars, perhaps?) or back to my blood priest build of my first playthrough to off her.