Elden Ring: YOU DIED on a horse

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

You become a master of each area, so to speak

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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