From Software Elden Ring - From Software's new game with writing by GRRM

[Zed Duke of Banville]

I'm assuming the top part of Siofra river is inaccessible until later in the game? Or am I missing a teleporter? Can I get there from Incel river?

Ranni's questline will take you to the rest of the Siofra River areas, followed by the rest of the Ainsel River areas, and then still more. Without pursuing Ranni's quest,

Spoiler

the other Siofra zones --- Nokron Eternal City, Night's Sacred Ground, and Siofra Aqueduct --- can only be reached after defeating Radahn, which is also necessary for progression in Ranni's quest (and the zones are entered the same way). Ainsel River Main and Nokstella Eternal City can only be reached via a coffin in Deeproot Depths, which in turn is only accessible via a coffin in Siofra Aqueduct or a hidden passage in a hard-to-reach part of Subterranean Shunning-Grounds, whereas Ranni's quest provides an entrance to the Ainsel/Nokstella section of the underground. The Lake of Rot can be entered from the Ainsel River segment accessible from northeastern Liurnia, and you can even proceed to a different area via a coffin and fight a boss, but, without an item obtainable only by following Ranni's questline, you will not be able to ascend to the overworld Moonlight Altar zone of Liurnia.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Alright, another boss i feel i finally mastered completely:

 

[Lyric Suite]

Apparently those faggots are resistant to sleep, so i had to default to hit and run tactics:

 

[Lyric Suite]

This was actually fun. I tried a couple of times and was getting annoyed because i couldn't roll out of that blue ball attack, then imagine my surprise when i tried to parry it and it worked!

 

[Skinwalker]

Also no, you have to invade. You don't have to win though, just invade.

Acktschually, after some careful googling, I found that they added a workaround: if you go to a specific place in Altus plateau, you can kill an enemy NPC and that will count as an invasion.

Anyway, I've since discovered that the looming columns I was looking up at from Siofra wasn't Nokron, but rather some blood fiend's palace. Or is it both? Don't answer that. The underground is clearly more extensive that I had assumed.

Spoiler

Also, the roundtable hold has gotten very empty as of late. All the cool characters died (Fia, you duplicitous slut!), even the damn cleric left, and now there's a pudgy red turd sitting in a room full of corpses and threatening to kill me for no reason. Also, Gideon Fafnir clearly plans to assassinate me, his bodyguard already tried to kill me after I got the second rune. Loneliest hub of any souls game.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

Also no, you have to invade. You don't have to win though, just invade.

Acktschually, after some careful googling, I found that they added a workaround: if you go to a specific place in Altus plateau, you can kill an enemy NPC and that will count as an invasion.

Anyway, I've since discovered that the looming columns I was looking up at from Siofra wasn't Nokron, but rather some blood fiend's palace. Or is it both? Don't answer that. The underground is clearly more extensive that I had assumed.

Spoiler

Also, the roundtable hold has gotten very empty as of late. All the cool characters died (Fia, you duplicitous slut!), even the damn cleric left, and now there's a pudgy red turd sitting in a room full of corpses and threatening to kill me for no reason. Also, Gideon Fafnir clearly plans to assassinate me, his bodyguard already tried to kill me after I got the second rune. Loneliest hub of any souls game.

You ask and then you tell me not to answer!
There's very relevant lore things going on in some undeground places. The palace is home to a boss, but that's not a spoiler since all areas have bosses anyway
Bear in mind that not all underground areas are "explored" like the topside ones. Some have very specific entrances that might be a PITA to find and clear.
When it comes to the NPCs, they move, but they tell you where they went. Fia is doing her own business. You'll find out soon enough, but it's underground. The cleric went to see Goldmask as he told you. He's actually close in Altus Plateau, close to one of the places where you find the map for the first area there. The red guy is none other than the DASTARDLY DOODOO DEVOURER!
Gideon knows too much. I mean, it's in the name. But yeah, be prepared. Look for his daughter too. Look very hard.
Now I'm thinking if the Volcano Manor hitman jobs count as invasions for Varré. Did you even meet Rya, the girl with the green dress?

 

[Skinwalker]

Did you even meet Rya, the girl with the green dress?

Name sounds familiar, but I don't remember.

Now I'm thinking if the Volcano Manor hitman jobs count as invasions for Varré.

Haven't gotten there yet. The fake invasion is a random red sign in a random ruin (I think the NPC is called Magnus, if that tells you anything).

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

Did you even meet Rya, the girl with the green dress?

Name sounds familiar, but I don't remember.

Now I'm thinking if the Volcano Manor hitman jobs count as invasions for Varré.

Haven't gotten there yet. The fake invasion is a random red sign in a random ruin (I think the NPC is called Magnus, if that tells you anything).

Rya is found at Liurnia. There, she asks you to help her (pic related). You will meet a Blackguard (legit his name) who stole it and he'll give it back to you in exchange for some thing that I forgot right now. Nothing important iirc. If you do give her necklace back, she'll trust you. If you get to Altus Plateau, you'll be immediately stopped by Rya as soon as you arrive, and she'll hand you an invitation to the Volcano Manor. There you will meet Tanith and she sill give you a few targets to assassinate.

The other way into the Volcano Manor is suggested by Patches and if you've played Souls games you know what that means...

I don't remember the character you mentioned. I invaded people normally so I went through with it normally.

Do note that Varré will give you the task to bring him the blood of a maiden. You will get it from a dead one. Bring it to him and accept his offer. He'll give you an important item then.

 

[Lyric Suite]

The NPC you can invade was added in a patch to make it possible to do Varre's quest offline, but you need to wait a while to get to it as it is i Altus close to the threeshold to Mt Gelmir.

Easier to just invade someone and jump to your death if you don't feel like fighting them. Of course, the end of his quest involves him giving you an invitation to go see Mogh... which you don't want to do until VERY late in the game, unless you like suffering.

 

[Lyric Suite]

That's great, been trying to do Astel and the game crashes after a minute into the fight. The fuck is this i fought him before and nothing like this happened. Gonna try changing my video drivers this is bullshit.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Ok, i fixed it by updating drivers. I basically got this error:

Fucking AMD.

Now i'm too soured to try it again, i'll give it a go later on today.

 

[Talby]

I forgot this game was even getting DLC. Seems like too little too late.

 

[Skinwalker]

Easier to just invade someone and jump to your death if you don't feel like fighting them.

Not when PS4 demands you pay for a month/6 months/year of PS+ or whatever their multiplayer service is called.

Rya is found at Liurnia.

Oh, yeah, the weird girl. She gave me an invitation to the volcano manor. I'll be going to Caelid first, now that I've explored Incel river and killed all the giant ants and a second dragon guy. I assume that's all I can get to at this point?

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

Easier to just invade someone and jump to your death if you don't feel like fighting them.

Not when PS4 demands you pay for a month/6 months/year of PS+ or whatever their multiplayer service is called.

Rya is found at Liurnia.

Oh, yeah, the weird girl. She gave me an invitation to the volcano manor. I'll be going to Caelid first, now that I've explored Incel river and killed all the giant ants and a second dragon guy. I assume that's all I can get to at this point?

iirc you can go to her directly -- the option Patches suggests means a world of pain for players who are most likely severely underleveled at that point of the game. The entire Volcano Manor area is meant to be done mid-to-late game and you're just getting started. Because of this, you are free to teleport in and out of it.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Oh, yeah, the weird girl. She gave me an invitation to the volcano manor. I'll be going to Caelid first, now that I've explored Incel river and killed all the giant ants and a second dragon guy. I assume that's all I can get to at this point?

Assuming you're referring to the underground areas, and you've already explored the initial Siofra River area accessible from the Limgrave well, and you've now completed the Ainsel River section accessible from the Liurnia well, then you might as well proceed to Caelid and fight Radahn, as was mentioned already, before seeking any more underground areas, since you'll want to follow Ranni's questline anyway.

You have the option to explore the Mt. Gelmir area first, though. Or head east, rather than west, from Altus into the Outskirts and then Leyndell, but I'd recommend against that before completing some of the other content. Except for collecting that smithing materials item in a tunnel just outside Leyndell, which is absurdly late for just the second one.

 

[Rocket-Propelled Game]

I used to not like playing the Deprived/Wretch/nekkid class in Soulsbornes until ER but now it's my favorite. Teaches you to appreciate anything you can get your hands on when previously you might have ignored it.

That much said, despite all the build possibilities, I'm gravitating towards being a paladin again. :U

HABITS!

 

[whocares]

I will not eat the bugs. I will not live in a pod. I will not use 2FA.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Lmao, get a load of this fucking bullshit that happened yesterday:



You know why i died? Because that thing on the ground slowed me down for a millisecond. Apparently you don't have a lot of room for error when running out of that thing so because i got stuck in that clutter for a microsecond i had to fucking die right as i had him.

I gotta work today so i don't have time to redo it i'll get it done tonight but come on.

On the plus side, i managed to learn to i-frame through that big gravity attack, which looks cool at least. I was also able to i-frame through this a couple of times but it's too inconsistent to make it worth it, only did it like two or three times and it felt like i just got lucky in all of them:

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

Oh, yeah, the weird girl. She gave me an invitation to the volcano manor. I'll be going to Caelid first, now that I've explored Incel river and killed all the giant ants and a second dragon guy. I assume that's all I can get to at this point?

Fair word of warning about Caelid. Read if you're not afeared of minor area spoilers.

Spoiler

My running theory is that instead of shitcanning the guy who made DS2, or better yet demoting him to some windowless basement where he would be forced to shuffle spreadsheets for 12 hours a day, they let him design chunks of Eldar Bling. But because it's so big, a few retarded areas aren't enough to ruin the whole thing and we can forgive it.

But, point is, for no particular reason, while Caelid is generally an early mid-game area, its northern part designated as Dragonbarrow is scaled just like the secret endgame zones. Since you're playing as a simp and doing Ranni's quests, it doesn't matter as much, but if you were going man-mode, you'd be forced to go there to progress into Atlus Plateu (well, not really, but if you weren't looking up any guides telling you the alternate routes, it would seem that way).

So now once you get into Caelid, you'll have two options - doing the story stuff and bolting, or clearing it out. And should you decide to stick around, with your underleveled and ill-equipped character, clearing out the Dragonbarrow and the Caelid tower where you activate your almonds (read - Radahn's rune), you'll be at risk of taking great sanity damage, breaking controllers, and punching walls. When I got there, pretty much everywhere 1-2 shot me, while I was doing chip damage (though if you did the ants already, you're probably stronger than I was at the time). And while that can be infuriating, it also leads to many a memorable experience of overcoming adversity. OTOH, while there, you'll get some gear and upgrade materials that will make the rest of the game, if not trivial, but at least comparatively merciful after the shit you'll have to go through in Caelid.

So it's up to you to decide where you want your buttblasting to take place - actual endgame or Caelid. Can't really have both.

Spoiler

Elden Ring is being called Dark Souls II 2 for a reason, and that's because the entire game feels like the DS2 guy designed it. Even the lore itself.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Ok so i couldn't it leave it alone and had to try it during launch lul, and holy shit once again he tries to screw me over right as i'm about to kill him, but this time i fucked him instead:



Bitch ass, doing multiple grab attacks when he is one hit away from dying fuck you, i roll-fu through all your illegal shit and then some. Imma go back to work now hahaha later dudes.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Oh, yeah, the weird girl. She gave me an invitation to the volcano manor. I'll be going to Caelid first, now that I've explored Incel river and killed all the giant ants and a second dragon guy. I assume that's all I can get to at this point?

Fair word of warning about Caelid. Read if you're not afeared of minor area spoilers.

Spoiler

My running theory is that instead of shitcanning the guy who made DS2, or better yet demoting him to some windowless basement where he would be forced to shuffle spreadsheets for 12 hours a day, they let him design chunks of Eldar Bling. But because it's so big, a few retarded areas aren't enough to ruin the whole thing and we can forgive it.

But, point is, for no particular reason, while Caelid is generally an early mid-game area, its northern part designated as Dragonbarrow is scaled just like the secret endgame zones. Since you're playing as a simp and doing Ranni's quests, it doesn't matter as much, but if you were going man-mode, you'd be forced to go there to progress into Atlus Plateu (well, not really, but if you weren't looking up any guides telling you the alternate routes, it would seem that way).

So now once you get into Caelid, you'll have two options - doing the story stuff and bolting, or clearing it out. And should you decide to stick around, with your underleveled and ill-equipped character, clearing out the Dragonbarrow and the Caelid tower where you activate your almonds (read - Radahn's rune), you'll be at risk of taking great sanity damage, breaking controllers, and punching walls. When I got there, pretty much everywhere 1-2 shot me, while I was doing chip damage (though if you did the ants already, you're probably stronger than I was at the time). And while that can be infuriating, it also leads to many a memorable experience of overcoming adversity. OTOH, while there, you'll get some gear and upgrade materials that will make the rest of the game, if not trivial, but at least comparatively merciful after the shit you'll have to go through in Caelid.

So it's up to you to decide where you want your buttblasting to take place - actual endgame or Caelid. Can't really have both.

Spoiler

Elden Ring is being called Dark Souls II 2 for a reason, and that's because the entire game feels like the DS2 guy designed it. Even the lore itself.

It's more accurate to say it's a fusion between Dark Souls 2 and Dark Souls 3. It has all the slickness and production values of the latter while having all the novel but goofy ideas of the former.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

DS2 > ER > 3

 

[Child of Malkav]

Sekiro = DkS2 > ... > ER (at some point)

 

[Nathir]

Oh, yeah, the weird girl. She gave me an invitation to the volcano manor. I'll be going to Caelid first, now that I've explored Incel river and killed all the giant ants and a second dragon guy. I assume that's all I can get to at this point?

Fair word of warning about Caelid. Read if you're not afeared of minor area spoilers.

Spoiler

My running theory is that instead of shitcanning the guy who made DS2, or better yet demoting him to some windowless basement where he would be forced to shuffle spreadsheets for 12 hours a day, they let him design chunks of Eldar Bling. But because it's so big, a few retarded areas aren't enough to ruin the whole thing and we can forgive it.

But, point is, for no particular reason, while Caelid is generally an early mid-game area, its northern part designated as Dragonbarrow is scaled just like the secret endgame zones. Since you're playing as a simp and doing Ranni's quests, it doesn't matter as much, but if you were going man-mode, you'd be forced to go there to progress into Atlus Plateu (well, not really, but if you weren't looking up any guides telling you the alternate routes, it would seem that way).

So now once you get into Caelid, you'll have two options - doing the story stuff and bolting, or clearing it out. And should you decide to stick around, with your underleveled and ill-equipped character, clearing out the Dragonbarrow and the Caelid tower where you activate your almonds (read - Radahn's rune), you'll be at risk of taking great sanity damage, breaking controllers, and punching walls. When I got there, pretty much everywhere 1-2 shot me, while I was doing chip damage (though if you did the ants already, you're probably stronger than I was at the time). And while that can be infuriating, it also leads to many a memorable experience of overcoming adversity. OTOH, while there, you'll get some gear and upgrade materials that will make the rest of the game, if not trivial, but at least comparatively merciful after the shit you'll have to go through in Caelid.

So it's up to you to decide where you want your buttblasting to take place - actual endgame or Caelid. Can't really have both.

Spoiler

Elden Ring is being called Dark Souls II 2 for a reason, and that's because the entire game feels like the DS2 guy designed it. Even the lore itself.

How is the lore similar to DS2? In fact, I think DS2 feels nothing like ER, except for both having too many "filler" bosses.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Bastard managed to hit me by faking me out with that slow walk since i expected him to try to heal instead, but still managed to kill him:



I think there's a stronger version in Mogh's area, but i wanted to try parrying this one first since it's out in the open and... it's not really that reliable. He can use any random attack some of which cannot be parried and everything he does is at the speed of light so it's lke you have to roll the dice at times and hope he does a parriable attack instead of something else. He also seems to get hyper armor when he does that dual wielding flurry of attacks so bonking is also not sure proof. Pesky little fucker.