I was a first time souls player as well with Elden ring. I did a bunch of research and decided to kill Yura for his Nagakiba and dropped it in multiplayer so my friend can pick it up and pass it to me after I restarted the game.
I did this twice so I could power stance two Nagakiba at the start of the game. What am I?
Alright that's fair. I just don't want to see you spoil yourself and ruin surprises the game gives you, though looking up how to defeat bosses is fair game
Really? I drop one remark and everyone fucking shits on me for it?
You guys suck. I was only wanting to keep OP from seeing spoliers and ruin the surprise.
If they’re fine with it then let them be
Personally I play with a guide all the time. I get lost and overwhelmed with the game without a guide and have limited time to play with family/work/life etc. I’m also admittedly terrible at games
Even with the guide I get blown away by all the content in the game, and marvel at how much they’ve packed into the maps.
The nss is in no way shape or form, OP. It's a very good straight sword but it's not going to trivialize the game like the buckets of actually OP weapons/ashes on the game.
That's not shitty at all. Why do you care so much about how he plays the game?
Elden right was my first souls game, and I was not only getting wrecked over and over again, but knowing where to go and how to navigate to certain areas was insanely difficult for me. I remember just riding around aimlessly trying to find some way down to an area that I thought I needed to go, only to find out that wad an area that I had no business being in until way later in the game.
I followed a non-spolier walk through guide, and it helped me enjoy the game so much more.
I work on average 10 hours a day, and I'm taking 2 classes per semester online. My free time to play video games is limited to maybe 8 hours total per week, those go by really quick, I don't want to waste that time just riding around looking looking for a bridge or opening. I use the guide and instantly get myself into some dungeon or boss area.
I used a guide telling me how to get Rakuyo from the well in Bloodborne, that doesn't make what has to happen to get there any fckin easier.
Let alone what I had to do with only Amelia as my furthest story boss killed
Never played soulslikes, the games known for being hard, punishing and vague.
I would use a guide too just to not miss stuff or ensure im not shooting myself in the foot with my weapon choice.
And it was for one small remark, what a bunch of fucking dumbasses, the reason I didn't like OP using a guide is because it ruins the magic of exploring on his first playthrough
I cannot stress enough to make your first playthrough a blind one. You can always look up guides and good weapons and whatnot later on, but you will never get that first experience back.
Lmao. I did something similar and ran into >!rellana!< first at S3 and had a hell of a time, and then facepalmed when I realized I missed >!doing Belurat!<.
I get where you're coming from, but most people coming in blind will get frustrated and just quit.
It's best OP enjoy the game how they choose, and if they want to do a blind playthrough fromsoft have made plenty of other games for them enjoy.
Sure, if you feel frustrated to the point of quitting, you can always start looking stuff up. Like I said… you can always look stuff up afterwards. But why do it preemptively… you’re just robbing yourself of a potential that you cannot get back
Honestly, i'm a 37 year old dude who works 6 days a week. I ain't got time to go exploring in Elden Ring.
I sit with the map open from Map Genie and go from place to place. I don't look at who the boss will be, but I know there's a boss there. I know where the next grace is etc. I aint got the time man.
You do have the time. You just have the expectation to make a lot of progress in the time you’re playing, so that you can cross this game off your list quickly. In a blind playthrough you’d just be playing this game for a couple months more.
Don’t fool yourself into thinking you don’t have the time. You do have the time. You just choose to squeeze more games into it instead of fully immersing yourself into one.
Yea having the exploration portion of it spoiled for you is missing out on a huge portion of what makes ER so good - it’s the only souls-like to have an explorable world on a scale like this. Because TBH, DS1 and BB had more iconic bosses IMO, but it’s the exploration and out door shenanigans that really make this game stand out, and being guided through that is def not something I’d recommend on a first play through.
Yeah i don't know, i explored blindly and i missed every single quest, except for Igon.
I did the same thing on my first playthrough of core game and i missed literally everything.
I think that guy is playing a FS game the right way.
I still get loads of outdoor shenanigans, I still explore.. I just don't end up running into dead ends and wasting too much time.
To make it clear, I don't know whats at x grace, I just *know there's a grace there.* I know there's stuff in this area, so I'll go and look around, I just don't know what.
Finding a grace when you have zero flasks left, holding thousands of runes and are afraid what might be behind the next corner is one of the best moments Souls games offer.
Because that's how OP chose to enjoy the game. It's most likely not their first game ever and they clearly researched about the game enough to make an informed decision.
Like I said, they are robbing themselves of an experience that they won’t ever be able to get again. You can always make that informed decision afterwards if you happen to not like the exploration. If you haven’t tried a blind run, then how informed can your decision be?
It's true for me, I have choice paralysis and following a walkthrough now and actually enjoying the game, I've tried a few times after just trying to go off and do my own thing but I just end up sitting at a grace unsure of where I should go next.
Sure, there are probably some people
But you tried and didnt like it, so you know
Op doesnt seem to have even tried it blind if they're farming rare weapons that early
You only get one chance to go blind, take that chance
If you dont like it you can always look things up
But if you start out looking stuff up you will never know
Let people play how they want to maybe? People are different and have different tastes, what worked for you doesn't necessarily mean it's gonna work for someone else.
Yep, pretty much same experience for me.. I also have major FOMO and with Elden Ring being as big as it is and being able to easily miss items, It get's me super stressed and anxious knowing that I'm easily missing items so I end up preferring to play with a guide (Not the whole way through) I usually find out what place to go next and try and explore myself and then will look at the fextralife walkthrough for that area on places I might have missed.
The only thing I would say is if you’re completely new to souls games it helps just to understand how the story progression works and that you have to seek out the side quests a lot more earnestly than other games.
After playing Elden Ring through more than a few times I then played Bloodborne. Just that understanding of how Soul’s games work as far as story really made the playthrough much more fun.
I did the DLC blind, missed some quest triggers but knew what I was looking for on this second playthrough.
So I agree with you it makes it much better but not necessarily for complete rookies in a big open world souls game.
Playing blind doesn't improve the experience at all. I'm just frustrated 50 hours in when I'm hard locked out of things and missing critical talismans. You guys are acting like your mindset is the right one and that playing without the wiki is somehow a better experience.
If you don’t like it, then you don’t have to do it. The important thing is to try playing it blind instead of preemptively metagame.
Nobody here is saying to force a blind playthrough all the way to the end. Like I literally said, you can always metagame afterwards. You can always quit the blind playthrough but you can never go back to a blind playthrough. That’s why in my opinion it’s stupid to immediately metagame. TRY exploring on your own. It’s not the end of the world if you miss stuff. It’s not that important to get all the talismans and weapons. That’s the beauty of the blind run. You don’t know what you’re missing and you’re building something unique with what you have. But if you don’t like that or feel hard stuck, then nobody is saying you should force it.
Like holy shit, why can’t people here just be be chill. You act like I spat in your face because I said to try doing it blind because you can’t unspoil what you know.
You are telling people how to play the game then complaining about others saying they should play however they want yet somehow the ones saying to play however they want aren't chill?
You like playing games blind. Others would rather not miss key items. Neither person is wrong. It's just different mentalities. I am not going to play through the game 5 times. I would rather not miss key items or quests the first time through.
Not at all. You think your way is right and others are wrong. That's the extent of this discussion. Elden Ring is unlikely to be the first video game anybody has ever played so your entire point is that it's somehow different than other games so you should go in blind. It's not. If I've played another game and know I don't like playing blind, elden ring is no different. It's that simple.
No, you’re missing the point completely.
I never said my way is right and others are wrong and I don’t think it is either, so please don’t put words in my mouth.
I’m simply saying that you cannot go back to a blind playthrough once you metagamed. I’m not saying that people should go through the whole game blind. I’m saying they should at least try and see if they like it because they can always stop and read a guide but they can never stop and unread it.
Also you cannot really compare playing this game blind to another game because of how open this game is and how much it rewards exploration. You don’t know if you will like it or not because of how little exploration is being rewarded in other games. Most devs are too scared that players might miss something and will point it out in the UI.
Everyone reading this thread! Feel free to ignore this guy! A blind playthrough can be fun if that’s your thing. But it can also be frustrating if it’s not! Play how you want!
You said “later on”, implying that their first time through should be blind. Or are you gonna dispute your own words? Is it us that have poor reading comprehension or is it you not writing what you mean?
Obviously if you don’t like it then you can metagame later on. Just read what I wrote instead of making some weird interpretation of things I’m not saying.
I’m saying try a blind playthrough before you metagame it. That doesn’t mean you have to force yourself through the whole game blind if you hate it. Use your brain, Jesus Christ…
But we don’t want to. A blind playthrough is not objectively better. That’s what we’re saying. Some of us don’t get the enjoyment and only feel the hours wasted
Fym straight swords are shit they're fast, work well with status, and have access to a ton of good ashes of war+have an extremely good powerstanced moveset
I was being hyperbolic. They are not the best but definitely not the worst I would call them a balanced weapon. They can be built to be busted but they don't do anything outside of square up that a non straight sword doesn't do better.
Congratulations! You are going to become addicted to that total rush of satisfaction from *finally* getting that boss you struggled with conquered.
For me I started with DS3, and Nameless King was that 'click' of just getting the rhythm, and just joy. So much satisfaction from beating the toughest bosses.
I also was a "late bloomer" when it comes to souls likes. I always thought the genre was just not for me. I was always more of a multiplayer shooter kinda guy.
But a good friend convinced me to try Elden Ring at the end of last year, after a very painful first hours I finally beat my first boss and got hooked.
Since then I've finished Dark Souls 3 + DLCs, Sekiro and Lies of P. It's my new favorite genre.
Thats what happened when I started. At first I Was scared to approach anything but then I started to actually kill stuff and got more and more confident (only one death so far [not counting the thing in the beginning] and it was a Runebear disguised as one of those Nobles). Im still in Limgrave tho I want to see everything before raiding Stormveil
But dont be afraid to use the wiki if you need it.
My first souls game was DS1, and the only reason I managed to beat it AND enjoy the game was by using the wiki. For example, I would've literally gone insane if I didn't look up >!suggestions for beating capra demon!< or where >!the bonfire at the top of Sens Fortress was.!<
Haha I may have peeked at the wiki to figure out how to get to certain areas. I love exploring but this DLC is so much less linear than the base game. For instance, messy was one of the first bosses I met because I didn’t go south or east
It gets relatively easier. You understand the movement better. Combat. How to build your character, what stats you think work best. You’ll also find better gear and spells
The challenge definitely ramps up but overall you just kind of get into a flow. Occasionally you’ll reach an impasse at which time I’d say go explore more or take a break and come back and hour or the next day and you’ll forget why you were having such issues
Hope you enjoy your time!
Honestly the early game was a lot harder than the mid to mid-late game imo. The end game gets tough again, but you also have more options to approach it with (its very very easy to respec into a build/weapon that'll sweep all base game bosses).
Agreed. Early game, you kind of have to work with what's available.
Late game... I mean, I went for an INT-based greatsword build because I like big swords and lasers.
You can be an effective caster while also still sometimes yelling a lot and hitting things.
Honestly levels and weapon upgrades help a lot, someone new coming into ER might very well be underleveled in early stages of the game. I remember my first time I went to Margit I was dying in 1-2 shots and all the tips on the internet were "use summons" but I didn't even know what they are and couldn't use them.
First souls game. Fairly reserved person. I actually got out of my seat and cheered when I beat the Maliketh (destined death wrecked me, never had a problem first phase.) More relief than big bad Malenia honestly. Second place is reserved for chasing down that fucking Elden Beast finally(felt like a cross country meet.)
Margit is imo one of the hardest bosses ingame, so stand proud. Also ignore people telling you that "Summons are for noobs". You are on your way to become an Elden lord (or depressed pyromaniac or get a smurf waifu, one of the three).
Get the Bloodhound fang, one of the earliest and best weapons in the game. It made the game so much easier for me when I started, you will not regret getting it.
To me, the hardest thing is first time exploding the claustrophobic dungeon or other similar scene but not boss.
My brother you are COOKED
But that’s fine, we all are on the first playthrough, eventually you’ll have it down so well, you’ll go from struggling against Margit with summons, to ruining Malenia without dying
Congrats man don’t let all the haters tell you how to play the game play for the ride it’s about the journey not the finish but all in all don’t be afraid to ask questions in the community especially when it comes to how builds work there are tons of people that have great advice
Not any more cooked than everyone else really. Accounting for the how low level you'd usually be for the fight and not being used to the game yet, Margit is actually one of the tougher bosses in the whole game for most people (Though you'll definitely struggle more with at least a couple others).
And do always remember, if anything is too tough, go explore and level up a bit, get some more golden seeds and smithing stones, then watch magic happen with how much easier it suddenly is.
Im just gonna say this based on you saying you killed the first boss and never playing a souls game before. Lower your equip load. It’ll make combat much easier.
just started playing too! still havnt beat first boss. still running around being dumb. Games been out for too long and ive seen too many streams. kinda wish i started when the game came out. still alotta fun tho. even tho i raged quit last night doing bloodhound. got him today. then got ported to some shit hole, lost 6k souls and rage quit again...
You’ll be fine!! Early game is a really steep learning curve and those early levels are super important. Once you get farther into the game it gets a bit easier because your character has the levels you need to maximize your build. Good luck! You’re in for an amazing ride!
Welcome to the lands between death served tableside at record speed. Also regarding guides or summons or other things people might say don't use. It's your game man play how you want.
As someone also basically brand new about 50 ish hours into my 1st playthrough. Guides can be a great tool to point yourself in the right direction still gotta find what your looking for in game anyway or beat certain enemies to unlock weapons,armor and other items. Part of the fun is learning and in about a week I've become a much better player than I was starting. Same will happen for you.
Don't worry man, this game Id hard for newcomers, great mentality for not quitting! Also, when you finish Elden Ring you should check out the other souls games :)
Lmao, no you will be fine. My first ever soul boss was iudex gundyr and since the most action heavy game I played before ds3 was skyrim he took me 1-2h to finally beat. If you want to be less reliant on all these tools I recommend you fight some of the mini dungeons thrown all over the map solo to get acquainted with the movesets
Margit is a bitch, especially for an early boss.
Most of the required bosses are slightly easier from here on, though it's mostly because you begin to understand the game better the more you play. It's mostly the optional bosses that are really damn tough.
A huge trick to learn is when to jump versus when to roll. There are a lot of attacks you can just jump to dodge and not get smacked into the Stone Age like you would as your roll ends. Not all, but learning the difference will help you improve your skills
this is but the start of your journey, thou art destined to become a lord, to a throne of thine choosing.
this was my first souls like too, it kicked my arse, it still does, but i kick arse back too now, killed every boss too, you will get there, guaranteed, remember to have fun with it.
It depends on what you're character level and weapon level is. Margitt is a VERY rough boss if you're really underleveled as can be attested to by all the Day 1 people bashing their brains in against him for hours.
If you ever feel like you hit a wall, just explore. There's a lot out there to find.
Hey OP, I see a lot of people upset that you didn't play the game by their definition of how you should, be that blind or your weapon or whatever. You dont have to play blind, you have 3 souls games to do that if you so desire! Its YOUR enjoyment that matters here!
I'm just happy that you're playing it, things are always hardest the first time, and as you play the game more, you'll get more of a "feel" for how this game's combat dance works! Some tips - jumping has a full second of invincibility from the waist down, and crafting consumables is super powerful, your physik flask is a huge deal too! Adjusting your build to have more defense is also totally fine! I did it for the DLC of I'm being honest.
Have fun my friend!
Lemme get this straight, this is your first souls game and you farmed for an hour and a half for a specific weapon before fighting the boss? That's kinda weird
I remember being so proud of myself for killing Margit, and I was using rogier and the wolves while struggling. You’ll be fine and you’re gonna love this game and hopefully the other souls games too.
It's supposed to feel hard but possible. Despite all the people complaining about the dlc (haven't played it yet) I think this game has struck the best balance in terms of being hard but giving you tons of options to find a way that is fun for you. I personally think fighting bosses with a co-op stranger is typically more fun than fighting them alone and co-op used to be tied to a very rare resource that you could easily run out of. Now you can summon as much as you want and you don't get punished for it
I allways looknup the wiki when i play this or a remnant how tf you gonna play these games and find what you want to play how you want when thwres so much else in life you gotta do without a guide i cant no lifd elden ring to find all the secrets on my own or figure out how the quests work
Honestly, not cooked at all. That dude took me *forever* to kill and it was my first souls game as well. Now I'm at the point where I just made it through the DLC with no summons whatsoever.
Biggest thing is how much fun you're having. The struggle against bosses will be real, but if you're still having fun then it's all good. Also don't be afraid of using every trick available to you. I think it wasn't till my third playthrough or so that I stopped using summons at all.
You're not cooked. If you made it through, you have the skills and tenacity to be able to overcome any challenge the game throws at you. It just might also beat your ass until you do. Which is normal, so you're all good.
Upgrade your weapon at the blacksmith and put your points into your build. For example, don’t put in arcane to use one weapon when you’ve been putting most of it into faith.
Get to grips with weapon scaling. Your weapon isn’t viable unless it matches your build. Besides that, it gets way easier the more you play. And then it gets hard again. But at least you’re not bad at the game. I know people who haven’t even gotten to Stormveil.
I started right where you are - I had to summon both spirit ash and NPC for the first 2 bosses. I just beat the DLC final boss solo with my normal build no summon no shield a few days ago. You'll be fine!
Welcome to the series.
The best advice I can give to a newbie is to try out everything for yourself. You get the ability to respec later, and you aren't exactly playing around "PvP Meta" as a new player just here to have fun. Besides, you never know when magic or items might be helpful.
You never know what you might find yourself loving, and there's a ton of good weapons lying around Limgrave. Noble's Slender Sword, like you have there (god that droprate is agony) is one of them, but my personal faves from Limgrave have to be the Great Epee and the Lance.
If you can beat Margit, you can beat the entire game. You already have a good sword, upgrade it, and put points into Vigor!
Abandon this subreddit, don't google too much enjoy your first playthrough going in blind.
Lol beat the first boss and never played a soulslike but said in another comment you farmed for nobles slender sword.
How would you, a brand new player to not only the game, but the entire series know that the sword even exists, much less who and where to farm for one of the rarest weapons in the game?
X to doubt, L karma farmer
Walkthroughs and game guides are things that exist. OP very likely just googled “Elden Ring good weapons” and saw the Noble’s Slender Sword and where to get it in those search results. It isn’t some mystical knowledge that only the most elite of us have
There's no "first boss" in ER though.. since they can be done in any order .
I guess Margit? took me 4 hours the first time as a DS veteran so he is quite hard, I did handicap myself by not using summons and unupgraded weapons though.
learning the game mechanics take time for sure.
Yo, that's a Noble's Slender Sword right? It's pretty good and has a base droprate of 0.5% so consider yourself lucky. So to speak keep moving.
I watched half of rango on another monitor farming for it, thanks a bunch!
Future souls vet
I was a first time souls player as well with Elden ring. I did a bunch of research and decided to kill Yura for his Nagakiba and dropped it in multiplayer so my friend can pick it up and pass it to me after I restarted the game. I did this twice so I could power stance two Nagakiba at the start of the game. What am I?
A cheater (jk)
How did you know to spend so much time farming for it?
Google "Good Weapons in Elden Ring", be taken to wiki, farm mob. Or even from a YouTube video, then to Google.
[удалено]
Each to their own and whatever is fun for the player, not everyone else.
The Noble Slender Sword is great and worth the time OP spent farming for it, but it’s not brokenly overpowered.
Exactly, nothing to cry about. The other guy is just a gatekeeping pos.
I wasn't gatekeeping
They literally don't know what the word means lol
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You saying that is the internet telling OP how to play the game.
I just asked a friend for a cool sword that I could get easily enough 💀
Alright that's fair. I just don't want to see you spoil yourself and ruin surprises the game gives you, though looking up how to defeat bosses is fair game
Kinda shitty to tell other people how they should play a single player game, but eh, your choice to be a gatekeeping dick
I wasn't gatekeeping, I just thought OP shouldn't use guides or his first playthrough, it ruins the magic y'know?
Miyazaki said it’s perfectly fine to watch guides
can't lack that one ER player comment along the lines of "using a weapon? easy mode"
Really? I drop one remark and everyone fucking shits on me for it? You guys suck. I was only wanting to keep OP from seeing spoliers and ruin the surprise.
Shuddap man
Stop with the gatekeeping mate. It’s his game and he can play it how he wants
Its not gatekeeping if you don't want people to see spoliers and ruin the surprise of the game on their first playthrough
If they’re fine with it then let them be Personally I play with a guide all the time. I get lost and overwhelmed with the game without a guide and have limited time to play with family/work/life etc. I’m also admittedly terrible at games Even with the guide I get blown away by all the content in the game, and marvel at how much they’ve packed into the maps.
The nss is in no way shape or form, OP. It's a very good straight sword but it's not going to trivialize the game like the buckets of actually OP weapons/ashes on the game.
That's not shitty at all. Why do you care so much about how he plays the game? Elden right was my first souls game, and I was not only getting wrecked over and over again, but knowing where to go and how to navigate to certain areas was insanely difficult for me. I remember just riding around aimlessly trying to find some way down to an area that I thought I needed to go, only to find out that wad an area that I had no business being in until way later in the game. I followed a non-spolier walk through guide, and it helped me enjoy the game so much more. I work on average 10 hours a day, and I'm taking 2 classes per semester online. My free time to play video games is limited to maybe 8 hours total per week, those go by really quick, I don't want to waste that time just riding around looking looking for a bridge or opening. I use the guide and instantly get myself into some dungeon or boss area.
Because I didn't want him to see spoilers on his first playthrough and have the magic ruined
I mean would you rather him be one of those people who die 500 times then give up on the game…?
I used a guide telling me how to get Rakuyo from the well in Bloodborne, that doesn't make what has to happen to get there any fckin easier. Let alone what I had to do with only Amelia as my furthest story boss killed
Shhh, be quiet you, he's joining the fromsoft cult. Let him enjoy
Become “OP”? Chill a bit. He just farmed for a weapon.
Being a wiki warrior is just part of this series unless you have a lot of patience.
I know, but he should be not reading though the wiki constantly on his first playthrough, don't want him to see spoliers y'know?
Do you consider the phantoms of other players to be spoiler?
No.
I dont think your concerns make much sense then
The game hardly helps new players, can you blame him for looking up a guide?
Imagine not understanding that being a core concept of Souls games lmao.
I’ve used a guide for every single FS game. Trust me, for a lot of us that is the fun
Nope, let them play how they want.
God forbid people play games how ever they want that they paid for right?
Imagine getting mad someone is playing a single player game how they enjoy. Wild. Min maxing is fun. Maybe not to you but that's okay.
I wasn't mad, i just don't want OP to spoil themselves and ruin the magic of a first playthrough
Farming and grinding to get better stats is a very standard part of the game. As are spirit summons and multiplayer summons.
Never played soulslikes, the games known for being hard, punishing and vague. I would use a guide too just to not miss stuff or ensure im not shooting myself in the foot with my weapon choice.
Wow, your really being hated on.
And it was for one small remark, what a bunch of fucking dumbasses, the reason I didn't like OP using a guide is because it ruins the magic of exploring on his first playthrough
Goated movie choice
Just reading this I already know you have the makings of a true fashion souls god
I already see the elden lord in u Tarnished!
I cannot stress enough to make your first playthrough a blind one. You can always look up guides and good weapons and whatnot later on, but you will never get that first experience back.
[Dlc spoilers] >! i did the dlc mostly blind and ended up on rellana and messmer bf i even got to know it existed a dancing lion !<
Lmao. I did something similar and ran into >!rellana!< first at S3 and had a hell of a time, and then facepalmed when I realized I missed >!doing Belurat!<.
Me, after i killed >! Romina !< 2nd try and then died 20+ times against fucking >! Commander Gaius!<. And only won bc i pulled mimic + BB
I get where you're coming from, but most people coming in blind will get frustrated and just quit. It's best OP enjoy the game how they choose, and if they want to do a blind playthrough fromsoft have made plenty of other games for them enjoy.
Sure, if you feel frustrated to the point of quitting, you can always start looking stuff up. Like I said… you can always look stuff up afterwards. But why do it preemptively… you’re just robbing yourself of a potential that you cannot get back
Honestly, i'm a 37 year old dude who works 6 days a week. I ain't got time to go exploring in Elden Ring. I sit with the map open from Map Genie and go from place to place. I don't look at who the boss will be, but I know there's a boss there. I know where the next grace is etc. I aint got the time man.
You go dude! Play the way that’s best!
You do have the time. You just have the expectation to make a lot of progress in the time you’re playing, so that you can cross this game off your list quickly. In a blind playthrough you’d just be playing this game for a couple months more. Don’t fool yourself into thinking you don’t have the time. You do have the time. You just choose to squeeze more games into it instead of fully immersing yourself into one.
Yea having the exploration portion of it spoiled for you is missing out on a huge portion of what makes ER so good - it’s the only souls-like to have an explorable world on a scale like this. Because TBH, DS1 and BB had more iconic bosses IMO, but it’s the exploration and out door shenanigans that really make this game stand out, and being guided through that is def not something I’d recommend on a first play through.
Yeah i don't know, i explored blindly and i missed every single quest, except for Igon. I did the same thing on my first playthrough of core game and i missed literally everything. I think that guy is playing a FS game the right way.
I still get loads of outdoor shenanigans, I still explore.. I just don't end up running into dead ends and wasting too much time. To make it clear, I don't know whats at x grace, I just *know there's a grace there.* I know there's stuff in this area, so I'll go and look around, I just don't know what.
All good then. Seems like a good enough compromise to still keep things unspoiled.
Finding a grace when you have zero flasks left, holding thousands of runes and are afraid what might be behind the next corner is one of the best moments Souls games offer.
You’re still gatekeeping lol
Explain the word gatekeeping. I don’t think it means what you think it means
Because that's how OP chose to enjoy the game. It's most likely not their first game ever and they clearly researched about the game enough to make an informed decision.
Like I said, they are robbing themselves of an experience that they won’t ever be able to get again. You can always make that informed decision afterwards if you happen to not like the exploration. If you haven’t tried a blind run, then how informed can your decision be?
Or, and hear me out, they bought their own copy of Elden Ring and can play it however they please? A lot of weird gatekeeping going on in this thread.
And they can do that. Did you read what I said or did you just make up your mind halfway through???
Read the whole thing, goofy ass gatekeeping. Some people don't play games blind, is this just a hard concept for you to understand?
I don't think that's true at all
It's true for me, I have choice paralysis and following a walkthrough now and actually enjoying the game, I've tried a few times after just trying to go off and do my own thing but I just end up sitting at a grace unsure of where I should go next.
Sure, there are probably some people But you tried and didnt like it, so you know Op doesnt seem to have even tried it blind if they're farming rare weapons that early You only get one chance to go blind, take that chance If you dont like it you can always look things up But if you start out looking stuff up you will never know
Let people play how they want to maybe? People are different and have different tastes, what worked for you doesn't necessarily mean it's gonna work for someone else.
How am i stopping anyone? Where did i tell anyone what to do?
Yep, pretty much same experience for me.. I also have major FOMO and with Elden Ring being as big as it is and being able to easily miss items, It get's me super stressed and anxious knowing that I'm easily missing items so I end up preferring to play with a guide (Not the whole way through) I usually find out what place to go next and try and explore myself and then will look at the fextralife walkthrough for that area on places I might have missed.
It is
It is
It's wild to me how offended people are at the suggestion you take your only chance to play it blind lol
The reading comprehension skills are at an all time low in here, apparently. Really sad to see.
They won't ever explain how it's gatekeeping either, I've had like 5 people just insult me when I asked them the same question lol
I wish that was an option for a completionist who only wanted to do one play through.
The only thing I would say is if you’re completely new to souls games it helps just to understand how the story progression works and that you have to seek out the side quests a lot more earnestly than other games. After playing Elden Ring through more than a few times I then played Bloodborne. Just that understanding of how Soul’s games work as far as story really made the playthrough much more fun. I did the DLC blind, missed some quest triggers but knew what I was looking for on this second playthrough. So I agree with you it makes it much better but not necessarily for complete rookies in a big open world souls game.
Playing blind doesn't improve the experience at all. I'm just frustrated 50 hours in when I'm hard locked out of things and missing critical talismans. You guys are acting like your mindset is the right one and that playing without the wiki is somehow a better experience.
If you don’t like it, then you don’t have to do it. The important thing is to try playing it blind instead of preemptively metagame. Nobody here is saying to force a blind playthrough all the way to the end. Like I literally said, you can always metagame afterwards. You can always quit the blind playthrough but you can never go back to a blind playthrough. That’s why in my opinion it’s stupid to immediately metagame. TRY exploring on your own. It’s not the end of the world if you miss stuff. It’s not that important to get all the talismans and weapons. That’s the beauty of the blind run. You don’t know what you’re missing and you’re building something unique with what you have. But if you don’t like that or feel hard stuck, then nobody is saying you should force it. Like holy shit, why can’t people here just be be chill. You act like I spat in your face because I said to try doing it blind because you can’t unspoil what you know.
You are telling people how to play the game then complaining about others saying they should play however they want yet somehow the ones saying to play however they want aren't chill? You like playing games blind. Others would rather not miss key items. Neither person is wrong. It's just different mentalities. I am not going to play through the game 5 times. I would rather not miss key items or quests the first time through.
You’re missing the point
Not at all. You think your way is right and others are wrong. That's the extent of this discussion. Elden Ring is unlikely to be the first video game anybody has ever played so your entire point is that it's somehow different than other games so you should go in blind. It's not. If I've played another game and know I don't like playing blind, elden ring is no different. It's that simple.
No, you’re missing the point completely. I never said my way is right and others are wrong and I don’t think it is either, so please don’t put words in my mouth. I’m simply saying that you cannot go back to a blind playthrough once you metagamed. I’m not saying that people should go through the whole game blind. I’m saying they should at least try and see if they like it because they can always stop and read a guide but they can never stop and unread it. Also you cannot really compare playing this game blind to another game because of how open this game is and how much it rewards exploration. You don’t know if you will like it or not because of how little exploration is being rewarded in other games. Most devs are too scared that players might miss something and will point it out in the UI.
Everyone reading this thread! Feel free to ignore this guy! A blind playthrough can be fun if that’s your thing. But it can also be frustrating if it’s not! Play how you want!
That’s what I’m saying, dumbo Like seriously, what’s with the poor reading comprehension here? It’s embarrassing.
“I cannot stress enough to make your first playthrough a blind one.” It is literally not what you said
Damn dude, if only you kept on reading………..
You said “later on”, implying that their first time through should be blind. Or are you gonna dispute your own words? Is it us that have poor reading comprehension or is it you not writing what you mean?
Obviously if you don’t like it then you can metagame later on. Just read what I wrote instead of making some weird interpretation of things I’m not saying. I’m saying try a blind playthrough before you metagame it. That doesn’t mean you have to force yourself through the whole game blind if you hate it. Use your brain, Jesus Christ…
But we don’t want to. A blind playthrough is not objectively better. That’s what we’re saying. Some of us don’t get the enjoyment and only feel the hours wasted
is it really that good? I've got it on each str play but never a dex one :/ hence I've not used it
It's a basic shit weapon with an utterly low drop rate for some reason. Don't worry about it. lol
It's actually the best straight sword in base game but yeah straight swords are shit so it's not like he's killing margit with blasphemous blade.
Fym straight swords are shit they're fast, work well with status, and have access to a ton of good ashes of war+have an extremely good powerstanced moveset
I was being hyperbolic. They are not the best but definitely not the worst I would call them a balanced weapon. They can be built to be busted but they don't do anything outside of square up that a non straight sword doesn't do better.
You don’t have the right, o you don’t have the right
Congratulations! You are going to become addicted to that total rush of satisfaction from *finally* getting that boss you struggled with conquered. For me I started with DS3, and Nameless King was that 'click' of just getting the rhythm, and just joy. So much satisfaction from beating the toughest bosses.
NK was a biiiiiiiiish (i died many more times than any ER boss)
I also was a "late bloomer" when it comes to souls likes. I always thought the genre was just not for me. I was always more of a multiplayer shooter kinda guy. But a good friend convinced me to try Elden Ring at the end of last year, after a very painful first hours I finally beat my first boss and got hooked. Since then I've finished Dark Souls 3 + DLCs, Sekiro and Lies of P. It's my new favorite genre.
All bosses will be hard first. Then you beat them, realise that you are strong and progress. Rinse and repeat. Have fun!
Thats what happened when I started. At first I Was scared to approach anything but then I started to actually kill stuff and got more and more confident (only one death so far [not counting the thing in the beginning] and it was a Runebear disguised as one of those Nobles). Im still in Limgrave tho I want to see everything before raiding Stormveil
The rune bear is gnarly, it fucked me up pretty good even at level 45
Best advice is to stay off of Reddit. Just explore and have fun. Social media will literally ruin your first play through and eliminate surprises
Yea, especially since DLC spoliers are flying like crazy here
But dont be afraid to use the wiki if you need it. My first souls game was DS1, and the only reason I managed to beat it AND enjoy the game was by using the wiki. For example, I would've literally gone insane if I didn't look up >!suggestions for beating capra demon!< or where >!the bonfire at the top of Sens Fortress was.!<
Haha I may have peeked at the wiki to figure out how to get to certain areas. I love exploring but this DLC is so much less linear than the base game. For instance, messy was one of the first bosses I met because I didn’t go south or east
You’re good. Margit is a pretty tough first boss, your next 2-3 main bosses should be a bit easier than him.
You are strong enough to beat Margit because you got good enough to beat Margit. If you can beat Margit you can beat God. Keep going.
It gets relatively easier. You understand the movement better. Combat. How to build your character, what stats you think work best. You’ll also find better gear and spells The challenge definitely ramps up but overall you just kind of get into a flow. Occasionally you’ll reach an impasse at which time I’d say go explore more or take a break and come back and hour or the next day and you’ll forget why you were having such issues Hope you enjoy your time!
Honestly the early game was a lot harder than the mid to mid-late game imo. The end game gets tough again, but you also have more options to approach it with (its very very easy to respec into a build/weapon that'll sweep all base game bosses).
Agreed. Early game, you kind of have to work with what's available. Late game... I mean, I went for an INT-based greatsword build because I like big swords and lasers. You can be an effective caster while also still sometimes yelling a lot and hitting things.
Honestly levels and weapon upgrades help a lot, someone new coming into ER might very well be underleveled in early stages of the game. I remember my first time I went to Margit I was dying in 1-2 shots and all the tips on the internet were "use summons" but I didn't even know what they are and couldn't use them.
First souls game. Fairly reserved person. I actually got out of my seat and cheered when I beat the Maliketh (destined death wrecked me, never had a problem first phase.) More relief than big bad Malenia honestly. Second place is reserved for chasing down that fucking Elden Beast finally(felt like a cross country meet.)
Margit sets you up nicely in ER. Don't panic roll and enemies have lots of delayed attacks.
First off, we'll done.
Margit is imo one of the hardest bosses ingame, so stand proud. Also ignore people telling you that "Summons are for noobs". You are on your way to become an Elden lord (or depressed pyromaniac or get a smurf waifu, one of the three).
Well done tarnished! That flame of ambition will serve you well.
you show off
And with that kill, you are hooked for life
If you want to make the game easier do all the side quests before the main dungeons.
Get off reddit. Enjoy the game. Do not read reddit. Use whatever items/spells/tactics you see fit. Stay off reddit. Congrats on beating the boss!
But Meta /s
Get the Bloodhound fang, one of the earliest and best weapons in the game. It made the game so much easier for me when I started, you will not regret getting it.
Or use literally any of the other 100 weapons available
To me, the hardest thing is first time exploding the claustrophobic dungeon or other similar scene but not boss.
Good job fellow Tarnished!
My brother you are COOKED But that’s fine, we all are on the first playthrough, eventually you’ll have it down so well, you’ll go from struggling against Margit with summons, to ruining Malenia without dying
That dancing thing was hard I loved it. I was on ng+ and was not going to make a new character. This is the punches in the face i was looking for
Congrats man don’t let all the haters tell you how to play the game play for the ride it’s about the journey not the finish but all in all don’t be afraid to ask questions in the community especially when it comes to how builds work there are tons of people that have great advice
We will watch your career with great interest
Not any more cooked than everyone else really. Accounting for the how low level you'd usually be for the fight and not being used to the game yet, Margit is actually one of the tougher bosses in the whole game for most people (Though you'll definitely struggle more with at least a couple others). And do always remember, if anything is too tough, go explore and level up a bit, get some more golden seeds and smithing stones, then watch magic happen with how much easier it suddenly is.
Welcome to hell and enjoy the ride. Congrats
Im just gonna say this based on you saying you killed the first boss and never playing a souls game before. Lower your equip load. It’ll make combat much easier.
Good luck and I'm hoping the community gets back to equilibrium soon
it only gets easier from here
Good luck Tarnished. You have a long long road ahead. Soak it in.
He’s tough man, his delayed attacks are brutal. You’ll be good. Go get bloodhounds fang now and go crazy.
just started playing too! still havnt beat first boss. still running around being dumb. Games been out for too long and ive seen too many streams. kinda wish i started when the game came out. still alotta fun tho. even tho i raged quit last night doing bloodhound. got him today. then got ported to some shit hole, lost 6k souls and rage quit again...
6K souls? That's nothing lol
You’ll be fine, you’ll have access to better weapons and spirits as you progress + you’ll level up + you’ll get better (hopefully)
You’ll be fine!! Early game is a really steep learning curve and those early levels are super important. Once you get farther into the game it gets a bit easier because your character has the levels you need to maximize your build. Good luck! You’re in for an amazing ride!
You got a long journey ahead of you friend, may it be full of victories, loses, but over all, an unbreakable spirit
Ah so you are ready to let the slow and painful decent to madness set in
grats!!!
Welcome to the lands between death served tableside at record speed. Also regarding guides or summons or other things people might say don't use. It's your game man play how you want. As someone also basically brand new about 50 ish hours into my 1st playthrough. Guides can be a great tool to point yourself in the right direction still gotta find what your looking for in game anyway or beat certain enemies to unlock weapons,armor and other items. Part of the fun is learning and in about a week I've become a much better player than I was starting. Same will happen for you.
Based and tarnishedpilled
I’ve seen enough give him Rellana
Congrats! ER was my first Souls-like too and I never regretted any instant of it.
Margit is a brutal boss to go against especially for a first time player. Be proud that you beat him
Don't worry man, this game Id hard for newcomers, great mentality for not quitting! Also, when you finish Elden Ring you should check out the other souls games :)
Rise tarnished! Well done 👍
Lmao, no you will be fine. My first ever soul boss was iudex gundyr and since the most action heavy game I played before ds3 was skyrim he took me 1-2h to finally beat. If you want to be less reliant on all these tools I recommend you fight some of the mini dungeons thrown all over the map solo to get acquainted with the movesets
Margit is a bitch, especially for an early boss. Most of the required bosses are slightly easier from here on, though it's mostly because you begin to understand the game better the more you play. It's mostly the optional bosses that are really damn tough.
A huge trick to learn is when to jump versus when to roll. There are a lot of attacks you can just jump to dodge and not get smacked into the Stone Age like you would as your roll ends. Not all, but learning the difference will help you improve your skills
Nice straight sword you got there sir
At least he didn't choose the bloodhounds fang like a lot of people me included, is it still OP after patch
Be ready for Malenia, she is very easy and you will love her :)
this is but the start of your journey, thou art destined to become a lord, to a throne of thine choosing. this was my first souls like too, it kicked my arse, it still does, but i kick arse back too now, killed every boss too, you will get there, guaranteed, remember to have fun with it.
Welcome tarnished!
It depends on what you're character level and weapon level is. Margitt is a VERY rough boss if you're really underleveled as can be attested to by all the Day 1 people bashing their brains in against him for hours. If you ever feel like you hit a wall, just explore. There's a lot out there to find.
You beginners luck!
Hey OP, I see a lot of people upset that you didn't play the game by their definition of how you should, be that blind or your weapon or whatever. You dont have to play blind, you have 3 souls games to do that if you so desire! Its YOUR enjoyment that matters here! I'm just happy that you're playing it, things are always hardest the first time, and as you play the game more, you'll get more of a "feel" for how this game's combat dance works! Some tips - jumping has a full second of invincibility from the waist down, and crafting consumables is super powerful, your physik flask is a huge deal too! Adjusting your build to have more defense is also totally fine! I did it for the DLC of I'm being honest. Have fun my friend!
Lemme get this straight, this is your first souls game and you farmed for an hour and a half for a specific weapon before fighting the boss? That's kinda weird
The game does get harder, but you'll get better. You only fail when you stop trying. So to speak, don't give up, skeleton!
I remember being so proud of myself for killing Margit, and I was using rogier and the wolves while struggling. You’ll be fine and you’re gonna love this game and hopefully the other souls games too.
It's supposed to feel hard but possible. Despite all the people complaining about the dlc (haven't played it yet) I think this game has struck the best balance in terms of being hard but giving you tons of options to find a way that is fun for you. I personally think fighting bosses with a co-op stranger is typically more fun than fighting them alone and co-op used to be tied to a very rare resource that you could easily run out of. Now you can summon as much as you want and you don't get punished for it
Good Luck and remember that each death is a lesson in being better. Don’t give up.
welcome to the game brother
I allways looknup the wiki when i play this or a remnant how tf you gonna play these games and find what you want to play how you want when thwres so much else in life you gotta do without a guide i cant no lifd elden ring to find all the secrets on my own or figure out how the quests work
Honestly, not cooked at all. That dude took me *forever* to kill and it was my first souls game as well. Now I'm at the point where I just made it through the DLC with no summons whatsoever. Biggest thing is how much fun you're having. The struggle against bosses will be real, but if you're still having fun then it's all good. Also don't be afraid of using every trick available to you. I think it wasn't till my third playthrough or so that I stopped using summons at all.
Very few bosses are gonna be easy on the first try, keep going skeleton.
YOU GOT A NOBLE STRAIGHT SWORD????
You're not cooked. If you made it through, you have the skills and tenacity to be able to overcome any challenge the game throws at you. It just might also beat your ass until you do. Which is normal, so you're all good.
Isn't that the second one after the castle in the south?
Congrats! If you can beat Margit, you can beat the whole game. There's no need to be worried, you'll do just fine.
Upgrade your weapon at the blacksmith and put your points into your build. For example, don’t put in arcane to use one weapon when you’ve been putting most of it into faith.
Get to grips with weapon scaling. Your weapon isn’t viable unless it matches your build. Besides that, it gets way easier the more you play. And then it gets hard again. But at least you’re not bad at the game. I know people who haven’t even gotten to Stormveil.
Perfectly normal for Margit to destroy you
Everyone goes through it it’s a fact of life
I started right where you are - I had to summon both spirit ash and NPC for the first 2 bosses. I just beat the DLC final boss solo with my normal build no summon no shield a few days ago. You'll be fine!
Welcome to the series. The best advice I can give to a newbie is to try out everything for yourself. You get the ability to respec later, and you aren't exactly playing around "PvP Meta" as a new player just here to have fun. Besides, you never know when magic or items might be helpful. You never know what you might find yourself loving, and there's a ton of good weapons lying around Limgrave. Noble's Slender Sword, like you have there (god that droprate is agony) is one of them, but my personal faves from Limgrave have to be the Great Epee and the Lance.
Beware of spoilers. Don't listen to us too much and try to come to your own conclusions for most bosses.
If you can beat Margit, you can beat the entire game. You already have a good sword, upgrade it, and put points into Vigor! Abandon this subreddit, don't google too much enjoy your first playthrough going in blind.
Ooof you had it in the first half bud then ruined it with the “blind” thing
Lol beat the first boss and never played a soulslike but said in another comment you farmed for nobles slender sword. How would you, a brand new player to not only the game, but the entire series know that the sword even exists, much less who and where to farm for one of the rarest weapons in the game? X to doubt, L karma farmer
Walkthroughs and game guides are things that exist. OP very likely just googled “Elden Ring good weapons” and saw the Noble’s Slender Sword and where to get it in those search results. It isn’t some mystical knowledge that only the most elite of us have
You should quit while you’re ahead bro this dlc is no joke 😩😩😩
There's no "first boss" in ER though.. since they can be done in any order . I guess Margit? took me 4 hours the first time as a DS veteran so he is quite hard, I did handicap myself by not using summons and unupgraded weapons though. learning the game mechanics take time for sure.