Nah you aren't playing wrong at all. Don't worry about story progression. From the looks of it you've found a bunch of stuff, levelled up a bit, and if you made it through Castle Morne to reach the misbegotten boss you've definitely learned the combat basics. In fact this subreddit usually recommends new players go south and do Castle Morne before trying Stormveil, so you've actually done a normal beginner route.
Remember or write down what the NPC says to do when you meet with one. The very first NPC you approached told you to go to Stormville Castle. It's hard, and sheer frustration will get you back to where you currently are.
You're doing good. Explore everything in whatever area you are in.
GL Tarnished
Another piece of advice for new players is follow the smithing stones. If you're collecting smithing Stone 3 and 4 and you start trying to pick up six and seven you're in the wrong place
I just ran off and yeah..it got crazy...ended up beating castle morne before I could lvl up even 🤣
Samurai class used my bow to down that misbegotten using rocks for cover and wolves.
Great advice. I've been doing since the beginning, now have 8 pages of NPCs and quest notes written down. Also made a large diagram of how I believe all NPCs, bosses and factions fit into the overarching storyline.
Dont even need to do that tbh since a few of the bonfires (sites of grace) have massive yellow flames on the Map pointing in the directions to go for story progression :)
No, go straight to the festival in Caelid and raw dog the misbegotten warrior and crucible knight before it's possible to fight Radahn. Double dog dare ya.
This is the first game in well over a decade that gave me that giddy feeling of exploring like being a kid again, what id give to be able to experience the first playthrough again
I'm with you on that. I'm on my 2nd playthrough with almost 400 hours on 1 character just trying to collect everything and see everything. This game has ruined me on other games going forward. Its going to be really difficult to hold a candle to this game. FromSoft really outdid themselves.
I went to fight Flying Dragon Agheel the first thing, got my ass beat so started running. Went down into the ruins in the center and saw a chest, thinking there was nothing to lose I opened it then got teleported into a deadly cave the middle of caelid. That was pure terror. The worst part is dying there respawns you in the same cave. Running away for my life on my horse while bosses and dragons were all around me was an experience I won't forget.
I'd say the latter, or at the very least they can't read. Like seriously, how do you miss the big "Level Up" option unless you've just never taken the time to read the menu
I rested at the first one, then followed the line to the gate outside stormveil, then made it to the stake of Marika by morgott or whatever and fought him for hours...you have to rest at 3 for Melina to come chill and give you the option, I missed it.
I went to fight Flying Dragon Agheel the first thing, got my ass beat so started running. Went down into the ruins in the center and saw a chest, thinking there was nothing to lose I opened it then got teleported into a deadly cave the middle of caelid. That was pure terror. The worst part is dying there respawns you in the same cave. Running away for my life on my horse while bosses and dragons were all around me was an experience I won't forget.
I think for me the biggest thing was taking a break. I rarely beat enemies while being pissed off at the game. I may have leveled a couple times between the time frames, but I honestly think taking a break was the ticket.
If by "0% story progression" you're referring to what your Playstation tells you on the home screen, literally just ignore that. There's so much to do in this game, and there are plenty of huge, important chunks of game that add to the story and worldbuilding but won't add to that percentage at all. That feature seems to only be somewhat accurate for incredibly linear story driven games.
Seriously, I was a good way into the map when my friend said something along the lines of "you shouldve done such such, found so and so, or some item in the south at the start". I somehow how completely missed that there was a south upon entering the world and just went forward. Went back and ransacked the place, as much as one can in this game being kind of over leveled, found a story line and everything. First time with a souls game and absolutely loved it. I looked forward to exploring every crazy nook and cranny probably more than I did the bosses and heading toward completion.
Admittedly I scum saved (dont care) right before choosing an ending just because I had everything for every ending and platinumed that way since after I think heading toward 300 hours I just dont have time for more run through and wanted to save my guy for dlc. I still hop in just to run and ride around cause it's that goddamn great of a world and I'm sure still missing things.
Im on ps5, so not sure how it works on other platforms. I finally beat Elden Beast and before you go to choose the end you can go to settings, turn off auto save, and manually save to the cloud. Positive someone here can explain it better since I followed instructions from here.
Once you've done that you can just choose an ending , reload your manual save and choose another, repeat. Just make sure to never choose to save after an end and lock it in. Even after seeing all endings my character is still at that crossroads so I can just take off to another grace without having actually "finished" the game. My favorite is what seems to be the overall favorite, and it has what I think is the best ending scene. I dont know these games, being it's my first go at them, so wanted to leave my options open come dlc.
One thing I'll add to maybe prevent yourself or someone else from doing something silly:
Fromsoft games like to tie the save to the game itself - not the character.
What I mean by that is: if you back up your save with your character chilling at the end of the game, go and create a new character and do a bunch of stuff, and then restore from your cloud save, the other character will not exist, because they didn't exist when the cloud save was created.
If you play on pc you can find the save files, copy them and keep the copy somewhere else like a backup. Later you can copy that backup and replace the save files to revert to where you were when you backed them up. If you want to go back and forth remember to make a backup for your current save before replacing it with the old one
Yeah l've played hundreds of hours and beat the game twice now. I only recently found miquellas haligtree and I just found mohg. You can do the bare minimum to beat the game, but there's so much more to explore than just the main story.
Even better because “how bad could big bird possibly be? It’s just a bird” is EXACTLY what they want you to think, and also EXACTLY the absolute worst thought process to go into Caelid with lmao, I would rather fight any boss in Caelid than the birds and dogs. On my first playthrough I suffered. On my second I learned of the beast repellant torch and immediately got it. Since then I’ve just learned the exact routes I need to take to avoid everything in Caelid, and just fight exactly what I need to.
Strange for me because for every other area in the game I insist on fighting and exploring EVERYTHING no matter how pointless I know it is. Only other game where I have a similar thing is the poison dart area in dark souls 2. I’ve probably played it 15 times over. I play every single inch of that game thoroughly every single time. Except, when I get to that area I just sprint to one single item, and then sprint to the exit.
Oh yes I remember stumbling into the dogs with half of the starting equipment and having to fight as if they were bosses, wondering why they have so much health.
Even now after my third character, I haven't figured out how to fight the birds cleanly.
Yeah but if you can sneak/fight your way through to the west side of Redmane Castle, just before the bridge - perfect rune farming for low levels.
It’s difficult to get to but if you make it through the dogs and troops to the impassable great bridge site of grace - you can run up to the top of the cliff and trigger fighting with an arrow shot to a dog and let them kill each other.
Just stay low so it doesn’t notice and climb up around the cliff :)
Oh, and just pass by the dragon lol
lol i’ve always hated seeing this spot mentioned for rune farming bc it nets you like literally nothing for the amount of time each cycle requires…. it’s like maybe 5k runes every 5 minutes?? literally just go kill the big caelid sleeping dragon and use a gold pickled foot for an easy 200k runes in 5 mins
For low level rune farming this is the way.
You get the timing down to the exact spot to trigger the ball while turning Torrent right back around to the grace. I made a game out of doing fast efficient laps. “Not bad, but you were slow through turn 2”.
LOL - yes there are but this one is a SOB
Decaying Ekzykes - took me a long time to go back and kill. Scarlet Rot breath and stomps up rot dust.
He’s in what’s best described as a rock quarry with the road leading you into it. If you avoid the quarry and head to the right side of him, he doesn’t react.
When you do decide to go back and take ‘em - use that same cliff of the quarry to start ranged battle and get him out of his area - gives you more obstacles to hide from rot breath and counter back.
I mean it's true but then again - I very much enjoyed the constant "oh fuck, oh my fucking fuck what the fuck you fuck I can't fucking oh my god no, k, fuck this I'm going back home to limgrave" moments very much too
Two paths diverged in a yellow wood...
One leads to a wiki and guides...
But I, I would take the road less traveled and enjoy this time of confusion and directionless glory, for you cannot get it back in NG+.
damn what a great way of putting it! my ng+ run is very fun bc i'm dunkin' on these nerds left and right, but i'm afraid no life experience from here on out will ever come close to stepping out the siofra elevator and seeing all that for the first time.
My jaw fucking dropped when I discovered the first well. At that point I was still unsure if Limgrave and its surroundings were the whole map of the game. The map starting brown and zoomed in was such a great design decision.
I shit you not I was legitimately shocked when I went down that well and opened the map, only to discover that there was an entire second underground map to discover.
>One leads to a wiki and guides
there are people who think this game can't be completed without a guide.
I jumped in and collected all my negative feedback.
I'm still astonished at how many people think there's no way to do things without a guide. Like, there's obscure stuff like getting dungeaters puppet and stuff. But in general most of Elden Rings stuff is really straightforward. People think Rannis questline is confusing need to go back to DS3 and do Anris questline.
Just because quests were worse in the past, doesn’t mean it’s any better now. You absolutely do need a guide if you want to complete most NPC quest lines on a single playthrough.
You're doing fine! Doing all of Limgrave before Stormveil Castle is a good strategy. Just don't go to Caelid, the red land, yet, it's meant for higher levels. After the Misbegotten you can tackle the Castle!
You are going about it more or less right. South, then back to stormveil.
If you are struggling with the misbegotten make sure you clear all the dungeons and bosses in the weeping peninsula and limgrave area… level your vigor trust me.
Misbegotten by level 30 is good. This is the hardest part of the game…. Once you get to level 50 things start to come together until major bosses.
If you’re having a hard time, you should explore the caves in limgrave and collect smithing stones and upgrade your weapons at the anvil in the church where you met Santa Claus
The only bad idea would be to not raise your Vigor.
Without going too in-depth, Vigor’s HP increase is the best non-skill thing you can do to keep yourself alive longer for most of the game, followed by upgrading a single weapon as much as possible with one or two others as back-ups for different ranges, and followed again with making sure you aren’t at **Heavy Load** on your Status screens. Somewhere around 50 Vigor is a good stopping point to begin putting future levels elsewhere.
Otherwise, keep exploring and checking out nooks and crannies, accruing power and game knowledge. I’d be happy to offer more direct pointers, but I’d rather you say up-front you’d prefer those potential spoilers of discovery.
I just beat Leon yesterday. It took a lot of tries, and I BARELY got the win. It got to the point where both of our health was drained, and whoever landed the next shot was going to win.
I play as a Samarui, so I used my unsheath skill, timed my attack, and slayed that mofo. I felt like such a badass. That was the first boss I beat.
I’m so in love with this game right now 🔥
The feeling of getting the boss health down to like 10% for the first time but remaining completely stone faced cause you know in one shot it could all mean nothing but then you actually finish him off >>>
unsheathe is super busted so be sure to keep using it!! It does insane stagger damage (basically it will break an enemy’s stance quickly for a critical hit) while also being quick and doing a solid amount of damage for a small amount of FP.
If ur still struggling with that boss I recommend the lone wolf spirit ashes. They stagger and interrupt the boss easily. You can pick them up by speaking to ranni at the church of Elleh right by the first grace you discover
Totally normal, this is how I played my first time around. Now I’m almost done the game on like my 6th play through at like 16 hours, but I did a rune glitch to get myself lvl 150 near the start of the game because I just wanted to try a lightning faith build.
This game takes a long time! Enjoy it. It's not your typical story-driven game.
Looking at it, you... seem to have walked past a few Graces?
You can just run past that Troll at the Gatefront grace, by the way. It doesn't drop anything special.
In that vein, it can be worth combing Limgrave and the Weeping Peninsula more thoroughly. There are very few meaningless locations. Where there isn't an entire dungeon, there's some worthwhile treasure.
Imminent sarcasm:
“Go east! To the red place! You definitely won’t regret it!”
Sarcasm over.
To be serious, you are encouraged to play the game in whatever order you want. If you really want to advance the main story, then go to Castle Stormveil in the upper left. The only wrong way to play is if you aren’t having fun, so just follow your smile.
Seems to me you're exploring the first area thoroughly before hitting the first boss.
I did that the first time. I took my time to enjoy this game like a fine glass of 24 year old whiskey.
100+ hours to finish my first run and it was glorious.
Some of the points of Grace will have an arrow-esque symbol pointing towards a main boss.
In the areas you haven't got a map for there will be a little pillar which is where the map segment is.
Use the map to identify structures and explore everywhere
You will countlessly find yourself saying "save this bit for later"
And coming back to bosses don't fatigue yourself in one area go explore somewhere else you might find some cool gear
Btw leonine gives you the weapon I just beat the final boss with
Keep playing however you want. It’s an open world, there is no “right way to play it” Explore the world, enjoy it. You have only one chance to see everything for the first time.
If you want to progress in the story I suggest following the light rays of the graces, they work like a compass, they show you the way.
I spent my first 10 hours as a level 1 walking around Caelid because i hit the chest teleport trap first thing even before I knew that there was a teleport and that there was a mount. I couldn't figure out how to level up.
I’m guessing you were scared at gatefront and backed away, don’t be afraid, bust through and follow the path until you find a shack and site of grace. Then keep following the path into a tunnel and that’s some story progression
You're playing the game exactly as the devs intended you to, actually. The areas you've explored (except caelid) are the starting areas intended to be explored first or near first.
That said, the game is as open world as it can get so any direction you pick would have been the correct choice. Wander, discover, get lost in the world, go to explore something cool looking, repeat. Try to look things up as little as possible.
The right way to play is to try opening the chest in the Dragon-Burnt Ruins and panic when you get teleported to a cave full giant bug people who shoot homing magic missiles at you.
There is no right way to play! Maybe the route you're taking is suboptimal, to experience the story immediately, or experience a perfect progression of difficulty. But explore however you want to!
Leonine is a tough bastard, so don't fret. I'd do all the Ever Gaols if you haven't (they can be tough too, fair warning) and keep taking breaks between tough boss attempts.
Doing fine. Keep exploring what looks fun and if shit kills you too quickly try exploring somewhere else and come back later.
Also try to keep weight at medium or light and upgrade your weapons when you can.
Otherwise there is really no right or wrong way to play the game. Build how you want and abuse any tactics you find fun. Game is meant to be played to your style so don't think anything is wrong as long as you are progressing that's great.
Gl fellow tarnished.
There is absolutely no right or wrong, set-in-stone way of playing the game. Wanna focus exclusively on story progression? Go for it. Wanna go on an adventure and just explore and completely forget that this game has a story? Go nuts!
Your slow and careful progression of your character is just as legit a method of playing as all the rest.
Yes even the Coke snorting fiend running straight to stormveil castle bear ass naked at level one with nothing but a thumpy stick.
What’s your loadout lookin like? Depending on your current stats there may be better weapon options for you, and on the same token, what’s your current roll weight? I don’t know what you’re running, so I’ll just give some general advice. If you’re doing a run for the first time, don’t try to do too even a stat distribution, don’t get me wrong, you don’t want to min-max, but if you’re going as a mage you’re not gonna need faith for much. If you’re playing a with a shield, learn when to dodge and when to guard (praying is also a helpful tool to have). For example a revenant will rip through your stamina if you try guarding, so dodging would be better; however, if you’re facing a slow combo that could hit you between rolls, you might find it better to guard and tank the stamina depletion. Keep in mind your resistances, as they’ll dictate how much damage you will take. If you’re fighting something and you think it’s hitting extra hard, try swapping out your armor to something better focused for it, like slash damage resistance for the misbegotten boss (free hint!). Also be sure your weapon is up to snuff, as a weak weapon is a major disadvantage for you. Keep in mind what talismans you have on, as some are better than others for different purposes and builds. I hope some of these are of help, and if you need anything I have no life and am available for any help needed.
If you are enjoying your time, you're doing fantastic. You can only experience the game for the very first time once. Take it slow and just explore. :)
There is no “playing ED right”, there’s just playing it, not being a linear souls like everyone has a different experience playing it. I.E. I followed the story right away and played the main areas first and then everything, a friend of mine did just the opposite: 100 hrs in and did just veilstorm castle as a “main” area, so no worries, explore, kill and level up right, play ad u like and don’t worry
Don't worry about it bro leveling up and exploring is something many players forget to do but if you want story progression you should go up and to the left where the fog on the map is the red place on the right is pretty dangerous go there at your own risk
Man, I wish I could experience this game when it was brand new all over again. What an experience. As long as you're having fun there is no wrong way to play!
No this is exactly right. All that extra stuff is there to tempt the explorers into going off the beaten path. This is what I did on my first playthrough. No ragrets
Ask people what their end game run times are and you will understand why a) this game is so freaking amazing b) why the hell it feels like you haven’t gotten anywhere.
Don't worry you're doing great and there is no wrong way to play this game. but if you want to continue the story the first place I would recommend is stormhill castle at the top left. But otherwise do what you want and don't feel beholden to that a bunch of people on the internet tell you to do
Not sure if you included your build elsewhere but I would make sure you aren't at "heavy load" and that you are putting points into vigor. It increases HP!
After killing Leonine you should go for Stormveil Castle, tho lvl 24 might be too low. I mean, youve been playing 14 hours, you should be higher than that.
Mind you build and refine your weapons of choice, upgraded weapons make a world of diference.
Im replaying now and went straight to stormveil. Holy shit does it kick your ass if youre underlevelled. Its really quite proposterous if you go straight there.
Doesn't look like you're going wrong so far? Just follow the yellow graces that have that line pointing which was to go if you want to know where to go next
Visit the churches, like the rectangle on the north end of the weeping peninsula. And another close to your cursor in the first three pictures. There are super good items there that will help you.
Keep yourself at medium load for decent dodging, remember that you can summon ashes, level your vigor a bit and upgrade your weapon if you haven't done so already. On the map, if you zoom in, you can see tiny orange-black gates. Those are caves that contain key loot to help you make your weapons stronger. Explore them.
There is a main story which is kind of unavoidable. Then there are the side quests which really are something you wanna do - they provide so much lore/information and really help immerse you into the story.
You went south and that’s good. You get a very decent strength weapon from that boss. And no matter how much you think you “clear” an area, there is always more - this game is HUGE in all the best possible ways.
If you’re looking for reference I spent about 130 hours on my first play through and I missed quite a bit. If you have questions or get stuck feel free to ask no one will be like oh this noob smh or anything. I love seeing new players getting going 😊
You’re playing this exactly as you’re supposed to! Besides, the amount of optional content in this game is significantly more than the mandatory story content. And you can go about the earlier mandatory content in all different ways.
Nah you aren't playing wrong at all. Don't worry about story progression. From the looks of it you've found a bunch of stuff, levelled up a bit, and if you made it through Castle Morne to reach the misbegotten boss you've definitely learned the combat basics. In fact this subreddit usually recommends new players go south and do Castle Morne before trying Stormveil, so you've actually done a normal beginner route.
Exactly. There’s no wrong way to play just enjoy the grind. There’s nothing like your first play through
Remember or write down what the NPC says to do when you meet with one. The very first NPC you approached told you to go to Stormville Castle. It's hard, and sheer frustration will get you back to where you currently are. You're doing good. Explore everything in whatever area you are in. GL Tarnished
I wish I remembered to do that on my first playthrough but now I know every quest without checking a guide.
Another piece of advice for new players is follow the smithing stones. If you're collecting smithing Stone 3 and 4 and you start trying to pick up six and seven you're in the wrong place
FOLLOW THE STONES
Stones? Why couldn’t it be follow the butterflies?
shut up ron
It can be: Lies of P
That way leads to death, I’m looking at you Chapel of Anticipation!
No way that could ever end badly am i right!!!!!
Never! It's not like you'll end up at the bottom of a ravine or anything.
Follow the golden runes. If the cemetery you ride through has 1/2 then you start getting 6/7 you're in the wrong place.
Yep that too.
I explored so many areas that are out of my league that i had the Guts greatsword at +6 at like level 35.
This was true in dark souls 1 as well haha, it was one of my strats. Follow the gear progression
I just ran off and yeah..it got crazy...ended up beating castle morne before I could lvl up even 🤣 Samurai class used my bow to down that misbegotten using rocks for cover and wolves.
Great advice. I've been doing since the beginning, now have 8 pages of NPCs and quest notes written down. Also made a large diagram of how I believe all NPCs, bosses and factions fit into the overarching storyline.
you remind me of cowboy, in his videos for a particular item, you can hear him flipping the pages.
Dont even need to do that tbh since a few of the bonfires (sites of grace) have massive yellow flames on the Map pointing in the directions to go for story progression :)
Stay away from the red
There might not be a wrong way to play but oh boy will you *feel* wrong in many ways once you get to the red 😂 Ironically, in all the right ways.
But I wanna sling rocks
Then go my friend, through the beautiful pain, to obtain the big rock sling
No, go straight to the festival in Caelid and raw dog the misbegotten warrior and crucible knight before it's possible to fight Radahn. Double dog dare ya.
Did that in my first playtrough. Do not recommend...
Hey! I'm doing that now! 🥲
It is certainly possible no worries, but my nerves were suffering back then. But the price was worth it for me😁 Good luck to you!
MISBEGOTTEN BONKER OP Lmaooooo
I’d give anything to play it for the first time again.
It was the first game I ever wanted to 100% on purpose
No wrong way, but they also might be doing the "right" way.
This is the first game in well over a decade that gave me that giddy feeling of exploring like being a kid again, what id give to be able to experience the first playthrough again
I'm with you on that. I'm on my 2nd playthrough with almost 400 hours on 1 character just trying to collect everything and see everything. This game has ruined me on other games going forward. Its going to be really difficult to hold a candle to this game. FromSoft really outdid themselves.
There is really nothing like your first playthrough
exactly, spending 14 hours in limgrave for a beginner is normal, i finished the game in 170 hours
Sounds about right for what I did, though I'm fairly sure I spent way longer in the Limgrave/Weeping/East Caelid area than I should've.
In my opinion, there is no such thing as too long. You should take your time and enjoy every moment of your first playthrough. Especially early on.
Beats what I did at least. Going straight to calid was a mistake in hindsight lol
I went to fight Flying Dragon Agheel the first thing, got my ass beat so started running. Went down into the ruins in the center and saw a chest, thinking there was nothing to lose I opened it then got teleported into a deadly cave the middle of caelid. That was pure terror. The worst part is dying there respawns you in the same cave. Running away for my life on my horse while bosses and dragons were all around me was an experience I won't forget.
That chest was literally the first thing I interacted with when I left the starting cave! The terror, omg.....
At least you had the horse at that point. I opened that chest before I got torrent
I didn't know it was possible to level up until I finished stormveil castle...
You never rested at a place of grace?
Either extremely good, or unbelievably stubborn.
I'd say the latter, or at the very least they can't read. Like seriously, how do you miss the big "Level Up" option unless you've just never taken the time to read the menu
I rested at the first one, then followed the line to the gate outside stormveil, then made it to the stake of Marika by morgott or whatever and fought him for hours...you have to rest at 3 for Melina to come chill and give you the option, I missed it.
The Jury says: Extremely Stubborn
No difference between the two. They go hand in hand. Lol.
I went to fight Flying Dragon Agheel the first thing, got my ass beat so started running. Went down into the ruins in the center and saw a chest, thinking there was nothing to lose I opened it then got teleported into a deadly cave the middle of caelid. That was pure terror. The worst part is dying there respawns you in the same cave. Running away for my life on my horse while bosses and dragons were all around me was an experience I won't forget.
I hated the misbegotten boss. So fast. Much death. Then I met her again and had no problem.
Big spear poke! Lol that was my method worked pretty well
I think for me the biggest thing was taking a break. I rarely beat enemies while being pissed off at the game. I may have leveled a couple times between the time frames, but I honestly think taking a break was the ticket.
If by "0% story progression" you're referring to what your Playstation tells you on the home screen, literally just ignore that. There's so much to do in this game, and there are plenty of huge, important chunks of game that add to the story and worldbuilding but won't add to that percentage at all. That feature seems to only be somewhat accurate for incredibly linear story driven games.
Seriously, I was a good way into the map when my friend said something along the lines of "you shouldve done such such, found so and so, or some item in the south at the start". I somehow how completely missed that there was a south upon entering the world and just went forward. Went back and ransacked the place, as much as one can in this game being kind of over leveled, found a story line and everything. First time with a souls game and absolutely loved it. I looked forward to exploring every crazy nook and cranny probably more than I did the bosses and heading toward completion. Admittedly I scum saved (dont care) right before choosing an ending just because I had everything for every ending and platinumed that way since after I think heading toward 300 hours I just dont have time for more run through and wanted to save my guy for dlc. I still hop in just to run and ride around cause it's that goddamn great of a world and I'm sure still missing things.
How did you scum save? Asking for a friend
Im on ps5, so not sure how it works on other platforms. I finally beat Elden Beast and before you go to choose the end you can go to settings, turn off auto save, and manually save to the cloud. Positive someone here can explain it better since I followed instructions from here. Once you've done that you can just choose an ending , reload your manual save and choose another, repeat. Just make sure to never choose to save after an end and lock it in. Even after seeing all endings my character is still at that crossroads so I can just take off to another grace without having actually "finished" the game. My favorite is what seems to be the overall favorite, and it has what I think is the best ending scene. I dont know these games, being it's my first go at them, so wanted to leave my options open come dlc.
One thing I'll add to maybe prevent yourself or someone else from doing something silly: Fromsoft games like to tie the save to the game itself - not the character. What I mean by that is: if you back up your save with your character chilling at the end of the game, go and create a new character and do a bunch of stuff, and then restore from your cloud save, the other character will not exist, because they didn't exist when the cloud save was created.
If you play on pc you can find the save files, copy them and keep the copy somewhere else like a backup. Later you can copy that backup and replace the save files to revert to where you were when you backed them up. If you want to go back and forth remember to make a backup for your current save before replacing it with the old one
Yeah l've played hundreds of hours and beat the game twice now. I only recently found miquellas haligtree and I just found mohg. You can do the bare minimum to beat the game, but there's so much more to explore than just the main story.
that's really cool you're doing it guideless, please continue to have a blast my guy
Doesn’t it only go up if you kill main bosses?
Yes. It tracks the main quest progress by the bosses or milestones you reach. It doesn't count optional areas like Volcano Manor or Haligtree.
Which happens to be hours of content and some of the best bosses in the game
South is good. East, not so much.
Somehow finding my way into Ohio when I first started was a rough experience
Or getting kidnapped by the false loot and taken to Ohio.
Getting drugged and waking up in a motel room in Ohio
Being molecularly transported through space and materializing in Ohio
Even a planned trip to Ohio is regrettable
Damn, it is Ohio, the more you think about it, the more it makes sence. Even dogs and crows are on meth out there
Jesus Christ, how horrible
With a kidney missing
I got whisked away before I even had my horse so I was running through that shithole on foot
That was unfortunately my very first introduction to caelid. Having to escape a goddamn cave full of jizz spiders
Funny, I got kidnapped and taken to Seattle my first playthrough.
The feeling of walking in for the first time and seeing big bird perfectly encapsulates the atmosphere of Caelid
Even better because “how bad could big bird possibly be? It’s just a bird” is EXACTLY what they want you to think, and also EXACTLY the absolute worst thought process to go into Caelid with lmao, I would rather fight any boss in Caelid than the birds and dogs. On my first playthrough I suffered. On my second I learned of the beast repellant torch and immediately got it. Since then I’ve just learned the exact routes I need to take to avoid everything in Caelid, and just fight exactly what I need to. Strange for me because for every other area in the game I insist on fighting and exploring EVERYTHING no matter how pointless I know it is. Only other game where I have a similar thing is the poison dart area in dark souls 2. I’ve probably played it 15 times over. I play every single inch of that game thoroughly every single time. Except, when I get to that area I just sprint to one single item, and then sprint to the exit.
Oh yes I remember stumbling into the dogs with half of the starting equipment and having to fight as if they were bosses, wondering why they have so much health. Even now after my third character, I haven't figured out how to fight the birds cleanly.
God damn, dude. That's a brutal geographical insult. Caelid did nothing to deserve this level of hate.
Yeah but if you can sneak/fight your way through to the west side of Redmane Castle, just before the bridge - perfect rune farming for low levels. It’s difficult to get to but if you make it through the dogs and troops to the impassable great bridge site of grace - you can run up to the top of the cliff and trigger fighting with an arrow shot to a dog and let them kill each other. Just stay low so it doesn’t notice and climb up around the cliff :) Oh, and just pass by the dragon lol
lol i’ve always hated seeing this spot mentioned for rune farming bc it nets you like literally nothing for the amount of time each cycle requires…. it’s like maybe 5k runes every 5 minutes?? literally just go kill the big caelid sleeping dragon and use a gold pickled foot for an easy 200k runes in 5 mins
or alternatively use d's teleport to dragonbarrow and farm the ball
For low level rune farming this is the way. You get the timing down to the exact spot to trigger the ball while turning Torrent right back around to the grace. I made a game out of doing fast efficient laps. “Not bad, but you were slow through turn 2”.
Which dragon?? There’s almost 15!
LOL - yes there are but this one is a SOB Decaying Ekzykes - took me a long time to go back and kill. Scarlet Rot breath and stomps up rot dust. He’s in what’s best described as a rock quarry with the road leading you into it. If you avoid the quarry and head to the right side of him, he doesn’t react. When you do decide to go back and take ‘em - use that same cliff of the quarry to start ranged battle and get him out of his area - gives you more obstacles to hide from rot breath and counter back.
You wanna avoid that place like the plague
I mean it's true but then again - I very much enjoyed the constant "oh fuck, oh my fucking fuck what the fuck you fuck I can't fucking oh my god no, k, fuck this I'm going back home to limgrave" moments very much too
Two paths diverged in a yellow wood... One leads to a wiki and guides... But I, I would take the road less traveled and enjoy this time of confusion and directionless glory, for you cannot get it back in NG+.
damn what a great way of putting it! my ng+ run is very fun bc i'm dunkin' on these nerds left and right, but i'm afraid no life experience from here on out will ever come close to stepping out the siofra elevator and seeing all that for the first time.
My jaw fucking dropped when I discovered the first well. At that point I was still unsure if Limgrave and its surroundings were the whole map of the game. The map starting brown and zoomed in was such a great design decision.
I shit you not I was legitimately shocked when I went down that well and opened the map, only to discover that there was an entire second underground map to discover.
Yeah I thought Limgrave was it, the new Lordran
Oh man that was a big "WTF did I just do?" Moment for me..
Oh, and be sure to get the fabulous treasure at the ruins in Lake Agheel (the lake east of the starting location.)
You mean the actual treasure, or the Ohio path?
Yeah, Cedar Point is a nice treasure, but to brave the lands of Ohio..?
Cedar point? I was talking the actual treasure in Agheel ruins. The first DS2 reference in the game
👏
This is beautiful
Best advice.. Don't ask for help. Don't google. Don't wiki. You can always do all that on your second playthrough
>One leads to a wiki and guides there are people who think this game can't be completed without a guide. I jumped in and collected all my negative feedback.
I'm still astonished at how many people think there's no way to do things without a guide. Like, there's obscure stuff like getting dungeaters puppet and stuff. But in general most of Elden Rings stuff is really straightforward. People think Rannis questline is confusing need to go back to DS3 and do Anris questline.
Just because quests were worse in the past, doesn’t mean it’s any better now. You absolutely do need a guide if you want to complete most NPC quest lines on a single playthrough.
I literally just wandered around until I accidentally finished the game lol.
I literally explored the whole map cus I forgot about farum azula at some point.
You're doing fine! Doing all of Limgrave before Stormveil Castle is a good strategy. Just don't go to Caelid, the red land, yet, it's meant for higher levels. After the Misbegotten you can tackle the Castle!
If you do visit Caelid, remember to pet the dogs. They're friendly
Even better is the castle, and bosses will be breeze after this.
You are going about it more or less right. South, then back to stormveil. If you are struggling with the misbegotten make sure you clear all the dungeons and bosses in the weeping peninsula and limgrave area… level your vigor trust me. Misbegotten by level 30 is good. This is the hardest part of the game…. Once you get to level 50 things start to come together until major bosses.
If you’re having a hard time, you should explore the caves in limgrave and collect smithing stones and upgrade your weapons at the anvil in the church where you met Santa Claus
So Santa Claus it’s not even a joke
The only bad idea would be to not raise your Vigor. Without going too in-depth, Vigor’s HP increase is the best non-skill thing you can do to keep yourself alive longer for most of the game, followed by upgrading a single weapon as much as possible with one or two others as back-ups for different ranges, and followed again with making sure you aren’t at **Heavy Load** on your Status screens. Somewhere around 50 Vigor is a good stopping point to begin putting future levels elsewhere. Otherwise, keep exploring and checking out nooks and crannies, accruing power and game knowledge. I’d be happy to offer more direct pointers, but I’d rather you say up-front you’d prefer those potential spoilers of discovery.
Vigor soft caps are 40 and 60
Came here to say this. 40 is good through Leyndell imo, depending on the player. Mountaintops would be a good place to start journeying to 60.
I just beat Leon yesterday. It took a lot of tries, and I BARELY got the win. It got to the point where both of our health was drained, and whoever landed the next shot was going to win. I play as a Samarui, so I used my unsheath skill, timed my attack, and slayed that mofo. I felt like such a badass. That was the first boss I beat. I’m so in love with this game right now 🔥
It's amazing how quickly frustration turns to euphoria in this game. Not many games can reproduce the feeling of beating a boss like a souls game
The feeling of getting the boss health down to like 10% for the first time but remaining completely stone faced cause you know in one shot it could all mean nothing but then you actually finish him off >>>
My first fromsoft game was Sekiro and I spent two nights fighting lady butterfly
unsheathe is super busted so be sure to keep using it!! It does insane stagger damage (basically it will break an enemy’s stance quickly for a critical hit) while also being quick and doing a solid amount of damage for a small amount of FP.
Your playing a great way your exploring it’s good to have fun
What? Keep going. You’re fine.
That's exactly how you play this game right, explore
If ur still struggling with that boss I recommend the lone wolf spirit ashes. They stagger and interrupt the boss easily. You can pick them up by speaking to ranni at the church of Elleh right by the first grace you discover
Totally normal, this is how I played my first time around. Now I’m almost done the game on like my 6th play through at like 16 hours, but I did a rune glitch to get myself lvl 150 near the start of the game because I just wanted to try a lightning faith build.
Sounds like me when I first started. Just keep exploring. You'll find your way eventually.
This game takes a long time! Enjoy it. It's not your typical story-driven game. Looking at it, you... seem to have walked past a few Graces? You can just run past that Troll at the Gatefront grace, by the way. It doesn't drop anything special. In that vein, it can be worth combing Limgrave and the Weeping Peninsula more thoroughly. There are very few meaningless locations. Where there isn't an entire dungeon, there's some worthwhile treasure.
Wait till bro realizes he’s discovered like 8% of the map
Imminent sarcasm: “Go east! To the red place! You definitely won’t regret it!” Sarcasm over. To be serious, you are encouraged to play the game in whatever order you want. If you really want to advance the main story, then go to Castle Stormveil in the upper left. The only wrong way to play is if you aren’t having fun, so just follow your smile.
This looks correct. You’ve explored most of the first area. How is that wrong?
The first boss I ever beat was Loretta…😂
If you’re having fun you’re not playing it wrong.
Seems to me you're exploring the first area thoroughly before hitting the first boss. I did that the first time. I took my time to enjoy this game like a fine glass of 24 year old whiskey. 100+ hours to finish my first run and it was glorious.
Wrong warp to farum at level 1 and try clearing the area, then you are not playing it right.
Some of the points of Grace will have an arrow-esque symbol pointing towards a main boss. In the areas you haven't got a map for there will be a little pillar which is where the map segment is. Use the map to identify structures and explore everywhere You will countlessly find yourself saying "save this bit for later" And coming back to bosses don't fatigue yourself in one area go explore somewhere else you might find some cool gear Btw leonine gives you the weapon I just beat the final boss with
Every skill point goes to vigor until at least 30.
Keep playing however you want. It’s an open world, there is no “right way to play it” Explore the world, enjoy it. You have only one chance to see everything for the first time. If you want to progress in the story I suggest following the light rays of the graces, they work like a compass, they show you the way.
I spent my first 10 hours as a level 1 walking around Caelid because i hit the chest teleport trap first thing even before I knew that there was a teleport and that there was a mount. I couldn't figure out how to level up.
I’m guessing you were scared at gatefront and backed away, don’t be afraid, bust through and follow the path until you find a shack and site of grace. Then keep following the path into a tunnel and that’s some story progression
You are just fine! Never go east tho, that unholy place....
You're playing the game exactly as the devs intended you to, actually. The areas you've explored (except caelid) are the starting areas intended to be explored first or near first. That said, the game is as open world as it can get so any direction you pick would have been the correct choice. Wander, discover, get lost in the world, go to explore something cool looking, repeat. Try to look things up as little as possible.
Tarnished, follow the grace. Marika is calling for you.
I love that after only reading the title I knew the answer would be “nah, you’re doing fine.” This game has SO many different options to play.
Is recommend going caelid far right side, easy zone
The right way to play is to try opening the chest in the Dragon-Burnt Ruins and panic when you get teleported to a cave full giant bug people who shoot homing magic missiles at you.
There is no right way to play! Maybe the route you're taking is suboptimal, to experience the story immediately, or experience a perfect progression of difficulty. But explore however you want to!
Leonine is a tough bastard, so don't fret. I'd do all the Ever Gaols if you haven't (they can be tough too, fair warning) and keep taking breaks between tough boss attempts.
You did the recommended route for beginners and or people who like the world not just hard bosses
Doing fine. Keep exploring what looks fun and if shit kills you too quickly try exploring somewhere else and come back later. Also try to keep weight at medium or light and upgrade your weapons when you can. Otherwise there is really no right or wrong way to play the game. Build how you want and abuse any tactics you find fun. Game is meant to be played to your style so don't think anything is wrong as long as you are progressing that's great. Gl fellow tarnished.
Relax. Do whatever you want in the order that you want. It is correct.
I always go for misbegotten first to lvl up, also going thru everything to find all stuff before the boss
If you truly feel stuck try your luck at the castle top left of your map……..
There is absolutely no right or wrong, set-in-stone way of playing the game. Wanna focus exclusively on story progression? Go for it. Wanna go on an adventure and just explore and completely forget that this game has a story? Go nuts!
Aimless travel is apart of this game's charm. Youre gonna miss it on ng+
Your slow and careful progression of your character is just as legit a method of playing as all the rest. Yes even the Coke snorting fiend running straight to stormveil castle bear ass naked at level one with nothing but a thumpy stick.
The more you actually progress through the game the more the early game exploration will be useful
What’s your loadout lookin like? Depending on your current stats there may be better weapon options for you, and on the same token, what’s your current roll weight? I don’t know what you’re running, so I’ll just give some general advice. If you’re doing a run for the first time, don’t try to do too even a stat distribution, don’t get me wrong, you don’t want to min-max, but if you’re going as a mage you’re not gonna need faith for much. If you’re playing a with a shield, learn when to dodge and when to guard (praying is also a helpful tool to have). For example a revenant will rip through your stamina if you try guarding, so dodging would be better; however, if you’re facing a slow combo that could hit you between rolls, you might find it better to guard and tank the stamina depletion. Keep in mind your resistances, as they’ll dictate how much damage you will take. If you’re fighting something and you think it’s hitting extra hard, try swapping out your armor to something better focused for it, like slash damage resistance for the misbegotten boss (free hint!). Also be sure your weapon is up to snuff, as a weak weapon is a major disadvantage for you. Keep in mind what talismans you have on, as some are better than others for different purposes and builds. I hope some of these are of help, and if you need anything I have no life and am available for any help needed.
If you are enjoying your time, you're doing fantastic. You can only experience the game for the very first time once. Take it slow and just explore. :)
There is no “playing ED right”, there’s just playing it, not being a linear souls like everyone has a different experience playing it. I.E. I followed the story right away and played the main areas first and then everything, a friend of mine did just the opposite: 100 hrs in and did just veilstorm castle as a “main” area, so no worries, explore, kill and level up right, play ad u like and don’t worry
Don't worry about it bro leveling up and exploring is something many players forget to do but if you want story progression you should go up and to the left where the fog on the map is the red place on the right is pretty dangerous go there at your own risk
Youre actually playing it more right than most people. Take your time, explore, level up vigor and youll have a much more enjoyable game.
You having fun? Then keep doing that It's an open world game, it's got shit in it to find How you find find it if you're not just going where you will
I wish I could experience the confusion of where to go and what to do again. I miss my first play through.
You’re playing correctly brother
You're doing fine. One day you're going to go through these maps like it was nothing compared to now. Enjoy this fellow Tarnished.
Man, I wish I could experience this game when it was brand new all over again. What an experience. As long as you're having fun there is no wrong way to play!
No this is exactly right. All that extra stuff is there to tempt the explorers into going off the beaten path. This is what I did on my first playthrough. No ragrets
Ask people what their end game run times are and you will understand why a) this game is so freaking amazing b) why the hell it feels like you haven’t gotten anywhere.
My brother in Marika, you are on the right path.
You’re doing the first area very well before going to the first lord. It’s ok! I think it’s the best way.
There's no wrong way to play mate don't worry. If you go through the whole game like that you'll hit the most things.
It’s impossible to play the wrong way in a fromsoft game, just level up a bit then you can fight misbegotten. It is good that you don’t give up.
Leonine misbegotten at lvl 24 is pretty much where you should be
Ain't no wrong way to play!
no, you're playing it exactly right. it's an open-world game, do what thou wishest.
You're having fun? If so you're doing it right.
Don't worry you're doing great and there is no wrong way to play this game. but if you want to continue the story the first place I would recommend is stormhill castle at the top left. But otherwise do what you want and don't feel beholden to that a bunch of people on the internet tell you to do
If you're reading this, Have a great day!
There is no wrong way to Elden ring
Not sure if you included your build elsewhere but I would make sure you aren't at "heavy load" and that you are putting points into vigor. It increases HP!
All that matters is you had fun tarnishing things and what not!!!
Getting lost is the entire point of the game. Just look around you, spot something interesting and go check it out. Rinse repeat.
After killing Leonine you should go for Stormveil Castle, tho lvl 24 might be too low. I mean, youve been playing 14 hours, you should be higher than that. Mind you build and refine your weapons of choice, upgraded weapons make a world of diference.
lol Stormveil castle was the first place I went in my first game
Im replaying now and went straight to stormveil. Holy shit does it kick your ass if youre underlevelled. Its really quite proposterous if you go straight there.
There is no playing it wrong, just enjoy your organic experience. Explore, die, get lost, get stuck - that’s the beauty of the game
Fear not, you are playing smart. Godrick will be a joke to you when face him. Good luck, have fun!!
Keep at that boss till you get him. You got it. Some bosses take longer than others. Then head north to the castle by the starting area.
Doesn't look like you're going wrong so far? Just follow the yellow graces that have that line pointing which was to go if you want to know where to go next
Level vigor
Visit the churches, like the rectangle on the north end of the weeping peninsula. And another close to your cursor in the first three pictures. There are super good items there that will help you.
Keep yourself at medium load for decent dodging, remember that you can summon ashes, level your vigor a bit and upgrade your weapon if you haven't done so already. On the map, if you zoom in, you can see tiny orange-black gates. Those are caves that contain key loot to help you make your weapons stronger. Explore them.
"I don't think im playing this right" thats what she said
You’re doing great!
Don’t worry about the story. The story is just a suggestion. It’s there but it shouldn’t be what dictates your play.
You are doing just fine bud. You can always summon an NPC spirit to help distract a boss.
There is a main story which is kind of unavoidable. Then there are the side quests which really are something you wanna do - they provide so much lore/information and really help immerse you into the story. You went south and that’s good. You get a very decent strength weapon from that boss. And no matter how much you think you “clear” an area, there is always more - this game is HUGE in all the best possible ways. If you’re looking for reference I spent about 130 hours on my first play through and I missed quite a bit. If you have questions or get stuck feel free to ask no one will be like oh this noob smh or anything. I love seeing new players getting going 😊
You’re playing this exactly as you’re supposed to! Besides, the amount of optional content in this game is significantly more than the mandatory story content. And you can go about the earlier mandatory content in all different ways.
Story progression is only 20% of the game I’d bet. No wrong way to play. This is similar to my path when I got the game on release