Topic: Soulsborne Series Thread

Ah, yeah, there's obviously quite a lot of underground stuff, @Pizzamorg .... I'd probably have to check exactly what to do in that one, since there's often some not very obvious method to progress! I take it you didn't get to the boss, though? Think that was a Black Knife Assassin & they're really quite a step up from the knight types, just so you're prepared for whenever you find one

Yo, so I'm now at the final boss and I'm trying to find out what bosses/areas I've missed. Can anyone help me out here? I've never found the red haired lady for example, which seems weird because she was in the trailer xD

I don't really want to look it up. Also, I thought there would be a lot of underground areas. I mean I know there should be more, I'm assuming. And I'm pretty thorough when exploring.

There is this one area on the map I haven't been to yet, it's still clouded on the map on the left side of the snowy mountain. I have no idea how to get there...

Are some of these quest related? Like the one in Vulcano manor?

@JoyBoy To get to that area you have to get 2 halves of a key for the elevator and then use it on the big elevator in the Capital to take you to a secret area. One part of the key I believe a girl gives you, the one you find laying on her dead wolf, the other one you have to find at one of the forts in Caelid (again, it's been quite a while so you'll have to confirm).

As for Malenia, you will have to do an entire obscure questline just to be able to fight her involving Millicent, the girl with rot which you find in Caelid. It's quite easy to miss so I think you will have to follow a step by step guide to really get through it.

The awful quest design in this game means you probably won't be able to do this one organically, unfortunately. Use a quick guide of some sort.

@Varkster i did find the 2 halves of the medallion. I even used it on the elevator, that was my logic but maybe I used it on the wrong one? It's not like I was able to choose what medallion to use lol. I'll check that out. Thanks.

That rotten lady yes. I did find her. She is still standing near the outskirts of the capital near the first elevator. Not sure how to make her progress. Quests have always been weird in these games lol.

@JoyBoy There are 2 medallions like that. You gotta find the other one and then go to the elevator and tap right on the d pad to swap them.

I dont remember where to get those 2 Haligtree parts, so you'll need to look that up.

These quests are really out of place in this game. In other games they were odd but they were at least tolerable because the map wasn't this big.

I'll be real, even with the mod I am using, I just ain't feeling this and I think in big part, it is for the reasons listed above.

I know the "Ubisoft Open World" formula is now the 'cool thing to hate' and again, I ain't trying to fight with anyone. I know people feel those games are too handholdy and I accept your opinion on this, but I personally like games with structure. To me, there is little satisfaction quite like that of opening up an open world map, seeing all the points of interest, just rubbing your hands together and plotting your course to get stuck in. Maybe I am vaguely autistic I dunno, but it is what I like.

An open world game, to me, without like points of interest or recorded quest lines or whatever else is just barely a game to me. It is the same reason I didn't like Breath of the Wild or Arceus seemingly as much as others did.

Crucially, I must stress, I don't need to know every detail of what I am going to find, but I do like some structure. Like okay, I am here and I need to go to that city to progress my next quest, so I am going to plot this path and see what I discover along the way. If I discover nothing, no biggy, as I know I will progress the narrative once I get to the next city anyway. But here, they have completely taken away your ability to do that. And I know the grace sites act as your compass here, but as there is no log recording anything here, if you discover something important or progress something along, you have no real tangible way to know you have. Even when NPCs are very clearly giving you steps for a quest line, it isn't like they give you clear instructions on what you need to do or where to go, they give you some riddle full of made up up words and I just shrug and forget all about it.

I dunno, I just feel like Elden Ring is so aimless. I appreciate to some this is liberating, but to me it is utterly tedious. So much of the game is just walking around this big field (much like with BOTW) and then maybe I'll die from fall damage and go back to the start. Or if I am playing without the mod, some ranged enemy will practically one shot me with no warning (honestly it is just so oppressive, I dunno how anyone enjoys the game at the intended difficulty). I dunno, it just isn't fun to me at all.

And before people say it, no doubt, the art design in Elden Ring is incredible. The range of enemies, the thematic consistency, the intricate details like you'll come to a few locations in Elden Ring which you'll just have to stop, pan the camera around and say "wow". But then when that wears off, there is either nothing to do in the location you found or if there is something to do, it is behind so many obtuse layers that I am sure is fun to unpack for some but for me it is so obtuse I just have to keep Googling what the ***** I am meant to do next and it feels bad.

As a result, while I am now thankfully able to make much more consistent progress due to the mod, I still play for like an hour and then I am just so bored of aimlessly wandering around with no clear sense of progression at all, I turn it off to do something else.

I prefer the ubi approach as well, @Pizzamorg ..... At least, in both Odyssey & Valhalla, there were quite a few options relating to it all So, for those people that like wandering around rather aimlessly or something, you can turn off the guides or adjust them quite a bit between that & full
If the game itself doesn't provide enough, I do look for relevant maps & specific guides, which even playing Elden Ring on launch, they were appearing quickly

Eh, I don't care very much for the Ubisoft open world format. It isn't really fun for me to know where the game wants me to go, if the game is based on exploration. I'd much rather just go and explore the world myself, without much in terms of guidance, and find areas that weren't pointed out with a big red arrow saying "GO HERE!". It feels like much of the immersion in the game is lost in my eyes when I'm just forced upon a specific path.

I did so much stuff in elden ring the other day it’s just way to much to actually write about, but I got the twin blade I wanted, and did a good chunk of rannis quest line.

Later I’m probably going to write a whole thing on why the lion warrior thing and that knight is the worst boss fight ever in this game.

Never played an AC game, so I can’t give an opinion on this matter.

Then there's usually options to turn most of the stuff off, @VoidofLight .... Perhaps they can introduce even more options along that way, then!
Or perhaps you'll find some 'worse' bosses further in, @Snatcher! Seems that's going well, though?

Yeah that is the annoying thing. An Ubisoft game will gave the player choice, so those who enjoy an aimless experience in the name of immersion can do that. Those who enjoy a structured game of progression can do that as well. But the arrogance of the Elden Ring creative team to offer only one set experience and tell people to deal with it. Thank God people mod in all the quality of the life stuff this game lacks, it is just a shame it is necessary.

Duo fights in this game suck, and I have only enjoyed like two of them lol, that’s all I came here to say have a good day.

I don’t think it’s the same thing as the topic but I do think some of the quest needed to have some sort of tracker maybe? Like there choice not to add it, and they want the game to be played this way, I just don’t have any idea how you would even go about doing rannis quest line without a guide
.

Perhaps if future games are going to be similar, they might add some of that, @Pizzamorg ... The map is quite a bit bigger & it's a lot more open than previous games, as far as I know much about most of them

@Pizzamorg It isn't arrogance that they designed it to cater to the people who want an aimless experience. It's just the experience the devs wanted to craft. Saying a team is arrogant or selfish because they don't cater to absolutely everyone is a horrible mindset.

@VoidofLight I have to ageee with you there, I don’t think the devs should be called arrogant just because they wanted a specific type of people playing there game, they made he game after all shouldn’t they what type of people play it?

I love the design... You couldn't make me play an Ubisoft open world lol. Damn those ubi devs! Designing what I don't like on purpose!

@JoyBoy Ugh! I can't believe video game designers aren't designing this game to fit my preferences, and my preferences alone! How dare they make a game that's catered towards an audience I'm not apart of!

Lol

Edit: on reflection I need to be the better person here. I dunno why @voidoflight follows me around the forum starting the same arguments. Everyone else in here is able to be a respectful adult, they just seem to exist to troll. As such I'm going to add you to my ignore list so you can't force me in these circles again.

Thankfully mods exist in the place of these options, it's a shame this stuff is necessary, but I'm very glad it exists. I've been able to enjoy Elden Ring far more than I would have ever done otherwise had I kept banging my head against its "intended" difficulty. I'm sorry if that makes you mad, but if you can't see you're the problem here I dunno what else to say.

I think my next step is to find some kind of map, quest, overhaul mod as that's the missing piece really in making the game fun. If I can track quests in game, rather than needing to keep tabbing out to look at Google guides, I'd have way more fun.

Well that’s why I think modes are good at least, if a game doesn’t have something, just add it yourself I guess.