The Besties: How to play Elden Ring: a kind guide for beginners [The Resties]
March 11, 2022 3:01 AM - Subscribe
Elden Ring is amazing, but it's also intimidating. Since we'll be talking about the game on The Besties throughout 2022, we wanted to help newcomers and lapsed Dark Souls fans take their first steps into this beautiful, but sometimes unforgiving world. Join us as we discuss the best starting class, where to invest upgrades, and the many unspoken rules you should know as you grow from a timid target to the one and only Elden Lord. Plus, more talk on Steam Deck and Valve's surprise, free Portal spin-off.
I did the thing on my PC where I asked if it could run Elden Ring and my BIOS speaker laughed for five minutes and then my CD tray punched me in the face.
posted by Shepherd at 10:02 AM on March 11, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by Shepherd at 10:02 AM on March 11, 2022 [4 favorites]
Oh ho, combat does not stay slow. Enemies can be quite tenacious. I haven't blocked a single attack all game though.
The freedom to go where you want and find cool stuff is great.
It's my perfect game, and finally, a game that truly realizes the potential of an open world. But I've enjoyed them all.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 11:45 AM on March 14, 2022
The freedom to go where you want and find cool stuff is great.
It's my perfect game, and finally, a game that truly realizes the potential of an open world. But I've enjoyed them all.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 11:45 AM on March 14, 2022
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I might pop in to say more about this later, but one thing I learned so far is: the "horse" you get (it's a spectral, magic ghost animal that comes back to life... so it's not sad when it dies) is really, really fast and powerful. At first I was cautiously poking around, trying to kill basic enemies, hoarding souls (I mean "runes") and leveled up my HP a bit. But then I realized you can jump on the horse (it magically appears) and run basically anywhere. So I started galloping past groups of enemies and giant trolls, etc just to see what I could find. And sure enough, I found places to rest and recuperate, and good items just laying around. It was hard to get out of the mindset of cautiously crawling everywhere. But that horse is meant to be USED. You can run away from almost anything in the starting area, and enemies won't pursue you very far.
The combat feels slower and more deliberate than Dark Souls 3, but I'm getting used to it. Shields feel more important and actually useful. I don't think Souls games haters will immediately click with this, but it's a refreshing version of the formula. So much to discover, everywhere. You just have to get used to the fact that it's a different kind of game. Dying is part of the game. You can always harvest more runes. And you can grind a bit when you want to level up or buy stuff.
tl, dr: cool game.
posted by SoberHighland at 8:48 AM on March 11, 2022 [2 favorites]