think of the lore more like archeology, it is not an exact science. You get sometimes incomplete information and you will need to connect the dots for yourself.
Bobtree
1970
The Elden Ring was shattered. Your goal is to collect the great shards, but the small ones are useful too.
Kolbex
1971
That makes sense, but why do even, like, sheep have some of that.
Tim_N
1972
When the Elden ring shattered, some pieces were so fine they hung in the air and eventually breathed in by every living creature.
I’m sort of at an impasse. I’m still in Limgrave and have only taken out one miniboss. I’ve come close to clearing the guarded ruins and even the treetroll guy. I’m at level 19 working on a Paly build (mostly ST with some VI and END). But I’ve only got my initial sword up to +1 with Determine skill on it and a bronze shield with +1. I’ve seen others here with +3 and even +4 equipment at the same general point. I guess I can use the Overpowered Beginner guide posted above, but if there is something I can do without actually getting overpowered and spoilered by that video I’d prefer that.
There is always ‘git gud’ which is probably my main issue, hehe.
Mines have upgrade stones. Open your map and find something that looks like one. Keep pumping Vigor.
Are mines different than caves?
And after getting my ST up to 17 or 18 I started alternating between END and VI (for carrying capacity and hp).
There is lots to see and do in Lingrave, so keep exploring. The big island to the south also has lots of stuff to explore and is apparently a little easier than heading towards Stormveil Castle. You just need to get over the bridge, which is guarded, but it’s not too hard, or you could probably just ride Torrent through there. I have also ventured a little east and that wasn’t too bad. I have hit level 30 or so, with VI at 25, now working on some END and DEX. Keep a sharp eye out for Scarab Beetles!
Probably taken out about 5 or 6 mini-bosses, but most of them I suspect to have been on the ‘Didn’t expect weak foe’ side…
Fozzle
1977
You will usually be able to quickly identify that a cave is a mine, and for a little teeny weeny spoiler, there appears to be one in each major area.
Kolbex
1978
Ok, I can definitively confirm that attacking walls to reveal secret passages has made a return and not every single message declaring them to be present is a lie, just the vast, vast majority of them.
I did get over that bridge once or twice but never kept going since I thought it was going to be super hard past it. I’ll explore there next.
Ohh, nice. I’ll starting checking more caves then.
Thanks for the spoiler-lite info!
The real Dark Souls begins there…
Timex
1981
“Alt-F4 activates your mech’s shields.”
Bateau
1982
And then you get something like a Crucible Knight that makes you git gud. Game definitely has traps like this sprinkled all over.
There’s a menu to sort inventory pages, including by “order of acquisition”, ascending and descending. It’s left-thumbstick click on my DS4 pad, and T on keyboard. The controls help shows this, but the normal buttons list doesn’t. The cursor must be on an item first. Each category remembers its own sorting mode. I’d still like a “new items” list, but sorting is very handy.
There is a LOT of stuff you can explore and collect without fighting. You can always just go sightseeing and collect free loot. Torrent’s speed can save you from most danger on the road.
I did this game totally out of order. I never even found Stormveil Castle until last night. I partied up with my friend and we set our MP password so we could co-op, and he tells me he’s in Stormveil. I’m like, “Where’s that I’m doing the first boss at Raya Lucaria.” Naw. I just never went left at that one bonfire near the start of the game. It’s right there.
Despite being hilariously over leveled (I’m level 45 now!) Godrick was still really hard. We were able to do the whole dungeon together, and my god what an impressive bit of level design. This one castle would be half an entire game 5 years ago. It’s got to be size of Lordran in DS1, in terms of explorable area. I’ve done most of Raya Lucaria too and I can tell you that dungeon is just as detailed and expansive.
When I was playing with my friend we got invaded by another player. I remember co-oping with that guy the night before, so I know it was a player. It really made the dungeon more intense, we never knew if the guy was around the next corner (because we didn’t know the terrain mostly). We’d see him below us and try to hide. Eventually he caught us, I think he disguised himself as a barrel or something, and we had a good fight that lasted about 5 minutes. Lots of potions were consumed. I lost because I got greedy went for a kill when he was backing off to drink, and he parried me.
My advice with levels, great equipment, and/or powerful spells and abilities in any Dark Souls game (including this one), even when you are just facing a lowly dog or something you’ve killed tons of times before, is…
Oh I know. I saw a video on Reddit yesterday of a guy taking down a giant golem, and he’s in his inventory looking at the loot and he died to a one-shot headbutt by a ram.
The rams are hilarious. You start murdering sheep and they aggro!
Oh fuck. Tuesday? It’s fucking Friday and I have played everyday this week!
Oh, I’ll just choose the PC file, sionce it’s newer and the time seems to match when I stopped playing last night/early this morning.
Phew, that worked. If you get this pop-up, read it carefully before selecting!
make sure that you wait a couple of minutes before shutting off the PC after you close the game to give the cloud save a chance to update.
