Lahftel’s bizarre adventure into the world between continues. Today with an extra amount of suffering!
It speaks to Elden Rings immense draw and entrancing world that I put up with all the stutters and occasional crashes. Today it was even so bad that that I had discord and my browser shut down at random. (Yes.. I do run an Nvidia GTX970 and I’m aware that its a little under the recommended specs.)
But occasionally the game runs stutter free and fluid for several hours on end. And then it goes back to bouncing around and crashing every now and then. I tried to tinker a little bit with Nvidia’s software to make it run just a little smoother, but that didn’t seem to help. At all.
So, I’m back on my stuff regardless. For you, and not because I enjoy pain.
10 hours and barely made a dent
I start my day off, just like I wish every day would start off. Getting a hug from a nice lady who also gives me a blessing. While I sob in her lap about poor performance and my misery form the day before.
I suck it up and step outside the round table’s halls. Its some kinda hub you can enhance your equipment and prepare for further adventures, its kinda neat but some of the folks there seem really unfriendly. (Besides the lady that gives hugs, I like her.) So far so good, I still haven’t really understood what’s even going on; I’m some kind of undead and I’m supposed to seek employment as the new lord of the rings, got it.
Best feature so far; a shoulder to cry on about bosses and their impossible to dodge attacks.
After I return from the place we don’t talk about, (but not before trying to make friends with the locals,) my first goal for the day is to deal with the first regions bully. Godrick. My stubborn insistence on not blocking and using two swords would quickly shatter against his axe. (And the game randomly freezing for few seconds.) Even with the help of kind strangers, I was dying from one of his attacks.
So I went back to exploring his castle.. and look thee here. Festering Bloody Fingers; Elden Rings tools for invasions. Now the community seems to be a little split on this feature. Some hate it, some love it and then there are also hackers in the previous games.
Personally, I have a history of being a little bit of a PvP fiend. The goal is never to just kill a player, no. Messing with them is a lot more fun. Coming out of the woodwork to attack them once or twice, then running away and stalking them. Sometimes I leave some traces of my existence behind so they know I’m still there. Watching. That never gets old, especially with all the weird spells these games tend to have.
So.. instead of trying my luck on Godrick over and over again, I spend the next hour or so, happily invading folks and having a little bit of fun at their expense. Transforming myself into a summoned ally of them for example.. only to stab said ally. Not that this is very profitable when it comes to level up material called runes. But hey, its fun and gives me some PvP experience in the game. And let me tell you, using the levels to your advantage is the best thing you can do. Fighting someone on flat ground is always a bad idea, its usually a better idea to fight them on a set of stairs.
I’ll never forget you, my fellow tarnished. Even if you died shortly after taking this screenshot.
We still had that little problem of dying after one hit, so I went out and about to try and explore a little bit further. First, I went back south and explored the area around the castle I mentioned yesterday. Discovering horrors untold.. and fighting a tree. (That was a new one.)
Along the shore, replete with other horrors, I finnd a guard tower beset by some knights. After claiming ownership over it I tried to loot my reward — I was kidnapped yet again. This time to some golden city with a very friendly giant that showed me the way out. After checking the map, I realized the game had sent me very, very far north. So we’ll put a pin on that for later.
After chatting with a few NPC’s I revealed some Questlines, helping a noble to reclaim his castle.. and taking the spoils without asking. Then a twice as tall as me wolf dude who had a grudge with one of the optional bosses. I offered my help in finding and killing the boss. Said boss had kindly introduced himself to me yesterday. And then I watched in awe as my new wolf friend made quick work of him. While he did all the work I got a new sword and enough runes to level up.
My new best friend.
Then I went back to Godrick and with newfound vigor, still got my ass handed to me a few times. Before I started to remember; ‘Oh yes, this is a Souls game, you are supposed to dodge not mercilessly go all out’.
The trick was to roll into his attacks instead of away from them, hopefully this will apply to future bosses. So I claimed victory over the first big boss guy. And was in dire need of a breather… so back to exploring since I’m not done with the first area by a long-shot.
For reference, I’m now 15 hours in, and there are still a bunch of optional dungeons and bosses to fight. Some I’ll save for later after being shown the distance between them and myself.. and some I killed. One of them revealed another questline, another dungeon and the ability to learn a certain set of spells. Apparently this is still the tutorial?!
And while the game kinda nudged me to travel north, I head east. There I fight a spooky ghost on a boat, he turned out to be harder than I’d like to admit, even on horseback. But I managed thanks to playing way too risky and aggressive, and having the healing equipment to back that up.
I head further east and find a burned down cathedral, still in flames. There I have an unfriendly encounter with a nun that took a bite out of me. Took me two.. maybe three attempts to tell her off and I notice that the sky had turned red. I head further and realize that this is not the kinda place I want to be in. Blood red skies, big birds and scary tall guys with masks? Nope, we’re gonna head north like the game wants us to.
Nope.
But not before doing just a little bit more exploring.. so about the next location I won’t tell you a lot. I want you to go there and experience it yourself. Just let me say that if you follow the trench, north of lake Agheel… there’s something that should delight Souls veterans. It knocked me off my socks for sure.
So I head further north, and after vowing to never go into an optional dungeon again. I can either brave the misty lake or the mountains. Because I’m easily scared, I pick the mountains instead, only to be reminded this this is a game by FromSoftware. Weird skeletons, pyromaniacs and a big face barred my path but I went further… and beyond. My goal is the big tree in the distance and on the way there I was beset by bears again. But I’m a little bit wiser now, so I advise you to book it. But careful, they can keep up with you and chase you for a good while.
See that mountain? There is something that wants you dead there.
On top of the mountain I get to enjoy some spoils and a beautiful vista.. also the striking fear that I’ll eventually will have explore everything the light doesn’t touch at the moment. Again not my bravest of moments, I admit. But that’s the beauty of these games isn’t it? You feel really small in a world filled with all kinds of demigods and creatures that will have you for lunch. And there is something beautiful in all of that. But for now, I’m ready to call it a day and set out to the academy by dawn.
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