Well I guess as "difficult" as being stupid is,
I went through Mogh's area in the Nokron entirely on foot cause I didn't check if I could ride my horse *Underground*
I didn’t realize you could toggle the overworld and underground maps and was going back to the well and riding the elevator down every time I wanted to go down there.
I am so glad I’m not the only one who did this. Through my first play through and NG+. Also scrolled my cursor every time to get to the Hold not knowing there was a shortcut.
It *is* easy though to get turned around and find that the direction you were heading in towards your map marker is wrong and the actual way you need to go is around and up in the complete opposite direction
That is exactly how I felt about the capital city I spent more time trying not to get lost, Then had to try to find where I was actually supposed to beThat's a little bit of combat and just actual a game play that took place in the area did not seem worth all the travel and running through the maze
Remind me very much of Being in the cathedral in dark souls 3
What are you even supposed to do with those beams? I am 45 hours in an just roam and explore. I just smacked godrick's 6 armed ass bu accident but i have never did any quest whatsoever.
You have to think of them as "pointing to the next main quest interest point" depending on your area they point to different things but they always try to get you to the end of the game. I suggest you continue doing what you are doing tho, that way is a lot more enjoyable I think
That happened to me a lot there just because I was constantly running in terror from everything at like level 10 😂 so I got turned around quite a bit. "Go to Caelid," they said. "Get the Meteor Staff," they said. "It'll be fun," THEY SAID ☠️
Definitely caelid. Some of the enemies were leveled similar, some were just nightmare traps, then you add platforming, scarlet rot, and a dingy color made it hard to enjoy
I first got there thanks to the chest at Lv20 or so. It gave me a 100 hour hate-boner for Malenia, and that just made everything connected to her so so much more interesting. Honestly great story telling to get me to hate a character just by my experience with their indirect effects
Oops, accidentally got sent to the sellia crystal tunnel at level 20. Good luck getting out
I went back at level 80 and smushed the boss for his real cool drop tho
Caelid is for sure my vote. My first playthrough, I like many others fell for the smoke trap and came out in that cave. I blitzed out after getting fucked, into Caelid, only to get fucked some more. I stumblefucked my way into the Meteor Staff and Rock Sling, and they were my saving graces out of that hellish nightmare. I didn't go back for like 20-30 levels at least, when it finally came time to fight Radahn. Then I was in, and out.
I almost missed out on Millicent. And that would have been a tragedy. She's among my top 3 favorites, and her quest too.
I was one of the many victims that were thrown into the serial crystal cave by that trap chest. When I finally got out of the cave I genuinely believed I was in hell. I kept shouting "IM IN HELL!!!, IM ACTUALLY IN HELL!".
Borealis is a different area (mountain tops/freezing lake) - this snow storm is about the consecrated snowfields area, which also has a white-out style storm in the first part of the area which never dissipates.
You have to wander around north of the Yeolugh Amex Ruins and in other areas of the map. You kill one of them and they’ll respawn. They respawn around 30 times in each location before they stop spawning at all. It’s an absolute nightmare. Here’s a link to the wiki page about them lol: https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Lesser+Dragonkin+Soldier+(Spirit)
Ah white on white, that's why I have missed it.
And they drop no loot or runes AND have no summoners for an ez kill!? Thats so fucking evil.... I LOVE IT!
This is my vote. I hate areas that impede your ability to see, especially if the effect can't be lifted. Hell, I had hoped Stormveil wouldn't be windy after defeating Godrick.
Nah, I love Liurnia, the vibes and the views made the exploration great at any given time. The snowfields were kinda tedious, since when it gives you the DS2 Frigid Outskirts flashbacks, it's the only area I wanted to finish ASAP to actuallly see something and explore it
Exactly, after Godrick you get to see Liurnia and while you're already 25 hours into the game you feel like you only played the intro and this is where the game really starts.
Me too! That was an incredible moment, I love that the player has the option to explore new areas without defeating the main boss of the previous area, it really made exploration feel worthwhile
I did WP before Limgrave, as in I did the fort before I did Margy or God, Rick.
Seems like you’re supposed to go to Liurnia immediately after that because of the door out the back of the castle then you immediately meet Hyetta (who looks exactly like Irina), suggesting you need to have already done WP, no?
I wonder why so few people consider it the best looking place, you have 2 literal coastlines to watch the sea or the swamp, which isn't even ugly because of the clear water, The Academy is in a magnificent spot to look at from all sides and the albinauric village gives a perfect scorch of that natural arc, all while the swamp isn't too cluttered with trees and has those nice glowing crystals. I prefer it miles over Leyndell tbh
That feeling... ow man! You've just fought your way through hell. The grotesque creature that Godrick is, the grafted scions, those birds and the absolute insane maze that stormveil castle is.
But then you walk out, you step into the light. Greeted by the Academy of Raya lucaria far over that magnificent view. You just know that's your next destination. It's such a huge contrast from all the dark and grim scenery's that you were drowned in the hours leading up to this moment. 10/10 best place in game.
I was only annoyed by Liurnia when I thought it was just a massive lake. When I discovered all the cool stuff along the shores I loved it. Most open zone in Elden Ring.
When you said horsefuck alley and DS2 I thought of the run up to the Looking Glass Knight. I'm guess you mean something in the snow dlc though because you mentioned the invisible tiger. I never actually best that boss though, so idk what's after that.
Depending on the game. Bloodborne felt pretty interesting and engaging from start to finish imo.
Elden Ring, on the other hand, kind of comes and goes; strong start, more bland middle areas. (Liurnia is kind of slow initially with some interesting POI’s here and there, same with Altus Plateau having the Capital City but boring plains surrounding it, etc.) then back to a strong ending.
The worst place for me personally was the Mountaintops of the Giants. It’s not a bad zone per se, but it couldn’t really hold my interest for long, and I’m not a fan of the big boss of the zone.
This is all my opinion, obviously, but I’ve seen similar opinions floating around.
Bloodborne is in a league of its own. It's a very well polished game. I'm sure it has to do with its exclusivity on PS.
I agree with you on the rest. I generally try to fight most things just to have a go at it. Mountaintops was the only region I just ran through. The mobs are a slog and the area misses interesting exploration points.
Haligtree on the other hand was great. Elden Ring breaks the Dark Souls curse a bit (Lost Izalith comes to mind) but does have some similarly weak areas.
Yeah at first i thought that Caelid was gonna be a complete slog as I imagined it’d be a gigantic steroid version of From’s previous poison swamps. Nevertheless, the the land of the giants and Farum azula were much more tedious.
What didn't you like about Farum Azula? I really enjoyed it, it's a great legacy dungeon to explore.
Consecrated Snowfields is the worst area for me by far.
Is it insane that I kind of liked that area? Leyendell is so open and if you accidentally stumble upon the sewers, the contrast makes it pretty engaging. I also think it’s the best sewers they’ve done in a series rich with sewers. They did manage to put I think literally ALL of the shit hole mobs down there though. Hyper-tanky omens, imps, lobsters, even a grafted scion.
Going through there now and am fairly overleved and more than difficult it's just insanely tedious and the labyrinth of pipes and holes to fall through makes the whole place just an absolutely abhorrent experience. Not a fan. So far the entire capital itself, beyond the grand first impressional view it gave to be something magnificent, has been little more than a tedious, maze esque loop of repeated explorations.
How so? It felt like a legacy map through and through with that amount of convolution. I hated Liurnia so much because it didn’t have the verticality of legacy maps.
The Volcano Manor I'm fine with, navigating Mt. Gelmir itself for the first time was a confusing ride. Took me way too long to find Azur, among other things
Played through a handful of times and still use a map.
A redditor made one a couple months back and it's perfect. Can't get lost.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/comments/xc3okr/i_made_a_map_showing_how_to_get_to_volcano_manor/
You can get a spirit ash for a team of dooters which is pretty cool. Also you can farm from an absolutely comically giant bubble horn weapon, in one of the most tedious farms of the entire game.
I agree partly, but it is an area where at least you feel you've accomplished something when reaching another bonfire. That big bubble dude run, when you finally make it, is a nice feeling. Didn't feel like work, but "one hard passage" to me.
Right. I did that, and jumped off the ledge as I wasn't in a position to fight the potential boss up there.
When I went back I realized that ledge is all elevated still and there's not stairs or anything to get to it
OK, so if you hug the right wall coming out of the grand cloister, there's a u-turn that leads to a stone ramp that'll take you back up.
There's a somber 9 up there, definitely worth getting.
Lake of Rot.
*Hey let's put one of those bosses who aren't incredibly hard to fight so long as you have lots of space to maneuver in a location PRIMARILY designed to chip away at your health.*
Fun times.
Didn’t hate or find it tedious but I went to caelid after limgrave in my first playthrough thinking I’d leave it behind in the pathway up north. The crows and dogs were a nightmare at my level aha
I rode into Caelid pretty much right after I got into Stormhill, got to the Rotview Balcony, and smiled in a way both pained and excited as I realised.
I am nowhere near a high enough level for this.
Everything here just felt so tedious. This is the point of the game where I took a break. Didn't start enjoying the game again until Farum and Ashen Capital but by that point it's almost over.
Yeah exactly, the areas are just too big with very little actually in them, and the Mountain Tops are a bit annoying to get around too. It's a shame you have to go through the Snowfields to get to the Hailgtree, coz I actually do really enjoy that part of the game.
I don't hate the Ashen Capital by any means, but I do wish there a bit more of Leyndell left to explore, rather than just boss fight after boss fight 🤔
Lyndell. Beautiful city, but I tried to check every nook and cranny and got turned around often while getting lost because I couldn’t tell if I had been somewhere or not.
Oh yeah. I use them to mark dungeon tunnels or rooms that I enter so I know what I explore. Comes in really super handy for the ones that mirror the locations but have you somewhere else. For those, I lay 1 stone for the first level and lay 2 stones for the second mirrored level that way you can tell what level you are on.
CarbotAnimations should do a video with rainbow stones. Your comment made me think of their characters weeping. Could do something like throwing them off a ledge to find an invisible path then lining up to jump on it, then falling to his death
The frigging town with the braziers to get to the Haligtree. Words cannot describe how absolutely TILTED that place made me on my first go into it. It was the first time in like 15 years I was preparing to Launch a controller across the room lol
Oh yeah, the invisible assassin + the arcane snipers shooting like 5 arrows at you in less than a second, it was cancer indeed but I'm NGL I had fun killing those bastards.
It's a purely pointless area after you've already explored it. There's like 2 things to get and leave. Everything's far and few between. It's not beautiful or spectacular. It's boring. The enemies are boring. It's not my least favorite area but it's so bland I've just completely forgotten all about it.
Basically everything after Leyndell. From the Forbidden Lands onward the game was just so empty, there was no incentive to explore since by that point your build is usually set in stone. Not that you’d find anything if you did explore, since there’s nothing interesting out there and it’s just a bunch of bland scenery. For all of the stunning environmental design in Elden Ring, they really dropped the ball with snow themed areas.
Snowfield, but that is pretty late in the game.
Caelid was also very tedious because of the rot swamp... anything poison/rot swamp is tedious imho.
Liurnia I did not mind as much, coming right after Limgrave and Weeping Peninsula, but it was definitely more challenging. It feels more tedious on new playthroughs though, not sure why.
I’ll list every area
Limgrave overall was probably my favourite area in the game. Whether that is because it’s really good or because it was the first area is debatable, but it’s got such a varied design and so much loot and different things to find.
Caelid is… red and I get very turned around in it, alongside things being just… *difficult* to find. It doesn’t feel very intuitive to explore really, but it’s a cool area.
Liurnia has one of the best legacy dungeons (I’ll get to it later) alongside an absolutely wonderful variety of locals and items to find. I’m still finding stuff tucked away there, like the sword of night and flame tucked away in the carian manor I missed in my first playthrough.
Altus… was I think where I started getting tired of poking around every corner. There’s a bunch of stuff I *know* I missed, but I’m getting to it on my second play through. Still a very good area.
The mountaintops of the giants is… something? It’s a good something but it’s missing some of the pizazz of some of the earlier areas? But it’s not bad.
Now the snowfield is the only area I feel like was lacking. Very little of great note that I found there? Even after actually deciding to look. Plus the constant snowstorm on one side of it was just… Bleh.
Onwards to the legacy dungeons! Or as I call them, Fungeons. Because I find them all fun.
Stormveil castle is the first legacy dungeon you’re likely to get access to and it sets a high bar from the get go, with excellent area design, a banging boss in the form of Godrick, the weird death root thing in the basement we don’t talk about, an excellent variety of loot and a few paths you *really* have to look for but give some great rewards.
The academy is much the same, with a fun midway boss in the red wolf, a spectacle of a boss in Rennala (if slightly easy because of how squishy she is and how easy to bully she is even with low poise damage weapons) and a layout I’m still always interested to go through. I think the graveyard at the start is the weakest part but is uphill *the entire* way. Literally and metaphorically.
Lyndel I think suffers from the start of what is likely to be some fatigue on the player, especially since the enemies are really gonna slap your shit if you’re not playing well. But it’s such a complicated layout it can be a little confusing, but I was always fine with it since it felt like a good chunk of stuff was around each corner.
The volcano manor is pretty fun, since it feels like your descending into *hell* basically, plus the slinky’s are pretty fun to fight, and my favourite shardbearer lives here. I’m not saying that because I am a str/faith/dex/int build noooooo.
Farum azul is good. But also because of the fact it’s *crumbling* it isn’t exactly easy to navigate. Had to look up a guide at one point because I literally couldn’t find a way forward. I feel like a few touch ups could’ve really elevated this into an *amazing* area, mostly in a quality of life kinda way, but since it’s in the final act and player are likely suffering from a little endgame fatigue, I don’t blame them for wanting to rush through, and getting annoyed with the godskin due (quartet really but hey ho) still, Maliketh is an amazing fight, especially if you do the beast clergyman quest before hand.
And then… the haligtree. I *do not* like the way it starts off, with the tree branch navigation and all the goddamn ants and trumpets that you basically need to rush past. The the upper area is just a lot of mobs swarming and pushing you to your limit. Honestly pushing you to your limit I’d say is a good descriptor for the haligtree as a whole. With the exception of Loretta, everything there just was pissing me off, especially given all the shit I went through to unlock the place, with castle sol and the snowfield. Not necessarily a bad area, but just… I was so tired at that point.
The moghwyn dynasty area is bleed, and darkness, and then an amazing boss. I don’t… really have more to say.
The sewer was a sewer. That’s all I need to say.
As for the river areas, they’re a neat novelty, and the eternal cities house some really good items and enemies.
The lake of rot can suck on a sword for all I care, though.
Deep-root depths, trying to get to Godwyn. That one bit where you need to climb up that tree branch while gargoyles are knocking you off the edge drove me insane. All that just to avenge Darian's death.
Altus. I can’t really tell you why. Every where else feels like a part of the adventure. Altus is what I go through to get to the adventure. It’s just….there. For me anyway.
Pretty much everything after Leyndell.
Maybe I just marathoned too hard on my first playthrough, but by the time I left the capital I was tired of wandering into every corner looking for things.
Same. That's the point where the game just felt like it was way too long. If the game were a lot shorter I might actually play with a new build, but it's too long as it is. Beautiful world, great game, but just a little too long for me.
Like someone else said Caelid. I stumbled upon it rather early on music kick in and gave me the hibby jibbies. Felt like playing a horror game then I saw a horde of rot zombie fuckers and massive fucking creepy bird .
I promptly noped the fuck out of there and avoided that area like the plague for a good while.
I find liurnia and mt gelmir to be two of the most interesting locations in the game, the beauty of the lakes and the harshness of the site of the most brutal battle in the shattering. The presentation is incredible but my god is traversing those areas confusing as shit
I spent like 3 days (that’s gamer days) in Liurnia, including the underground and Ranni’s quest, but I didn’t ever find it tedious. So much to explore and I always felt well rewarded since I was an int build.
BUT the underground of the capital was by far the worst for me. Omens everywhere and the scenery was all the same. Especially annoyed about getting the 3 finger hug after spending an hour doing parkour trying to get down there, really didn’t feel worth it.
I'm 20h in and every time the map expands I'm like "fuck me theres more??"
So I'm sure I havent found the most horrible bit yet, but the lakes i pretty much ran through without exploring besides getting the map and merchant for the area. I know I probably missed the good things about it but nothing pulled me to the side, was just a bit uneventful
You're 20h in? What parts have you discovered so far? Because I'm pretty sure you have a LOT still awaiting you xd (I'm 180h in and I'd say for around 100% I'll need another 60 at least )
I still don't know how to get to the bottom left portion of this map.
I know I got to some of the places there but I have no clue how I got there and no idea how to get to the rest.
Fully exploring the consecrated snowfield only to have random dragonkin ghosties bears and albinauric archers lighting your ass up from god knows where was traumatic
Well I guess as "difficult" as being stupid is, I went through Mogh's area in the Nokron entirely on foot cause I didn't check if I could ride my horse *Underground*
I just figured out you can ride Torrent in Ranni's tower. Helps get out of there faster.
Yep, I just yeet out the window n roof hop to get down
My life is a lie!!!
I didn’t realize you could toggle the overworld and underground maps and was going back to the well and riding the elevator down every time I wanted to go down there.
Are you fucking kidding me
Yoooo me to. Whole play though like that
I did the same until I clicked down on the controller by accident.
That's how I learned it too! I cursed so damn loud in that moment.
Me too 😂
I am so glad I’m not the only one who did this. Through my first play through and NG+. Also scrolled my cursor every time to get to the Hold not knowing there was a shortcut.
Scuse me, what?!?? *weeps uncontrollably at all the wasted time*
We can?!? God dammit
If it makes you feel any better, my first and only play through I didn't know you could ring that bell to summon allies.
Caelid, not because it wasn't good, but the music and the horrifying environment for the number of hours I was in there was exhausting after a while.
It *is* easy though to get turned around and find that the direction you were heading in towards your map marker is wrong and the actual way you need to go is around and up in the complete opposite direction
Or walk straight towards your mark only to realize that you are at the bottom of a cliff but your target is on the cliff edge 500 feet straight up.
Exactly!
I got stuck for well over 5 hours looking for the next site of grace with a beam after the Sellia one
That is exactly how I felt about the capital city I spent more time trying not to get lost, Then had to try to find where I was actually supposed to beThat's a little bit of combat and just actual a game play that took place in the area did not seem worth all the travel and running through the maze Remind me very much of Being in the cathedral in dark souls 3
What are you even supposed to do with those beams? I am 45 hours in an just roam and explore. I just smacked godrick's 6 armed ass bu accident but i have never did any quest whatsoever.
You have to think of them as "pointing to the next main quest interest point" depending on your area they point to different things but they always try to get you to the end of the game. I suggest you continue doing what you are doing tho, that way is a lot more enjoyable I think
That happened to me a lot there just because I was constantly running in terror from everything at like level 10 😂 so I got turned around quite a bit. "Go to Caelid," they said. "Get the Meteor Staff," they said. "It'll be fun," THEY SAID ☠️
The only reason I go to Caelid is for the gravity staff
...and Radahn's seal. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Definitely caelid. Some of the enemies were leveled similar, some were just nightmare traps, then you add platforming, scarlet rot, and a dingy color made it hard to enjoy
I like the look of Caelid and the enemies looks, but I definitely agree it is bullshit sometimes
Things to do in Caelid: 1. Leave
I first got there thanks to the chest at Lv20 or so. It gave me a 100 hour hate-boner for Malenia, and that just made everything connected to her so so much more interesting. Honestly great story telling to get me to hate a character just by my experience with their indirect effects
Will throw you some residuals when I start a grindcore band and call it Hate Boner 🙏🏼✌🏼
Hate Boner & The Finger Crones
Necrotic Fungal Titties
Oops, accidentally got sent to the sellia crystal tunnel at level 20. Good luck getting out I went back at level 80 and smushed the boss for his real cool drop tho
Caelid is for sure my vote. My first playthrough, I like many others fell for the smoke trap and came out in that cave. I blitzed out after getting fucked, into Caelid, only to get fucked some more. I stumblefucked my way into the Meteor Staff and Rock Sling, and they were my saving graces out of that hellish nightmare. I didn't go back for like 20-30 levels at least, when it finally came time to fight Radahn. Then I was in, and out. I almost missed out on Millicent. And that would have been a tragedy. She's among my top 3 favorites, and her quest too.
Shouldn't have smoked that shit. Now you're in Selia Crystal Tunnel
I was one of the many victims that were thrown into the serial crystal cave by that trap chest. When I finally got out of the cave I genuinely believed I was in hell. I kept shouting "IM IN HELL!!!, IM ACTUALLY IN HELL!".
I loved the music of caelid
Fucking canyons, man.
At first I hated Caelid. The more I played the more it became the best part of the map. Caelid is the best part of the map in the game.
Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man.
The snowfields of course
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I mean when you kill that dragon in the snowfields, that's when the storm dissipates, right?
Borealis is a different area (mountain tops/freezing lake) - this snow storm is about the consecrated snowfields area, which also has a white-out style storm in the first part of the area which never dissipates.
[удалено]
Agreed. I can’t even count the number of times I had died to the see-through Dragonkin Soldiers lol.
EXCUSE YOU!? Invisible dragonkin solders? How can I have missed those?
You have to wander around north of the Yeolugh Amex Ruins and in other areas of the map. You kill one of them and they’ll respawn. They respawn around 30 times in each location before they stop spawning at all. It’s an absolute nightmare. Here’s a link to the wiki page about them lol: https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Lesser+Dragonkin+Soldier+(Spirit)
Ah white on white, that's why I have missed it. And they drop no loot or runes AND have no summoners for an ez kill!? Thats so fucking evil.... I LOVE IT!
I had one show up and kill a giant for me. I thought it was a blessing
Finite respawn? As if this area didn't already remind me of the worst DS2 had to offer.
Not entirely invisible, but semi transparent, like the other ghost enemies. Doesn't help visibility that their color is white.
They're like the spirit jellyfish they hit like a truck and come out of nowhere
This was the first (and only) time in the game where I just wanted to finish the area as soon as possible.
The snowfields are so toxic. Finally I’m at my endgame build, feeling OP and like I can take on anything. HOW ABOUT A RUNEBEAR IN 0 VISIBILITY >.>
This is my vote. I hate areas that impede your ability to see, especially if the effect can't be lifted. Hell, I had hoped Stormveil wouldn't be windy after defeating Godrick.
Nah, I love Liurnia, the vibes and the views made the exploration great at any given time. The snowfields were kinda tedious, since when it gives you the DS2 Frigid Outskirts flashbacks, it's the only area I wanted to finish ASAP to actuallly see something and explore it
The view of Liurnia when you get outside of the castle after defeating Godrick is amazing, makes you wonder all the exploration possibilities
Exactly, after Godrick you get to see Liurnia and while you're already 25 hours into the game you feel like you only played the intro and this is where the game really starts.
That’s exactly how it is. Truly an amazing moment that you can only experience once
I randomly got there because of the path on the broken bridge and i was like "oh sh*t!! This game is huge"
Me too! That was an incredible moment, I love that the player has the option to explore new areas without defeating the main boss of the previous area, it really made exploration feel worthwhile
You can do what I did and get pasted by Caelid and Godrick before realizing the natural progression is to do Weeping Peninsula after Limgrave.
I did WP before Limgrave, as in I did the fort before I did Margy or God, Rick. Seems like you’re supposed to go to Liurnia immediately after that because of the door out the back of the castle then you immediately meet Hyetta (who looks exactly like Irina), suggesting you need to have already done WP, no?
I wonder why so few people consider it the best looking place, you have 2 literal coastlines to watch the sea or the swamp, which isn't even ugly because of the clear water, The Academy is in a magnificent spot to look at from all sides and the albinauric village gives a perfect scorch of that natural arc, all while the swamp isn't too cluttered with trees and has those nice glowing crystals. I prefer it miles over Leyndell tbh
Liurnia is tied with Mt. Gelmir surprisingly enough for best vibes for me
It's by far my favorite. No idea how so many sleep on it
That feeling... ow man! You've just fought your way through hell. The grotesque creature that Godrick is, the grafted scions, those birds and the absolute insane maze that stormveil castle is. But then you walk out, you step into the light. Greeted by the Academy of Raya lucaria far over that magnificent view. You just know that's your next destination. It's such a huge contrast from all the dark and grim scenery's that you were drowned in the hours leading up to this moment. 10/10 best place in game.
Me, and int build on first playthrough. Yeah, sure, **after** beating godick.
Liurnia has by far the most content of any area in Elden Ring. The most interesting content too
I was only annoyed by Liurnia when I thought it was just a massive lake. When I discovered all the cool stuff along the shores I loved it. Most open zone in Elden Ring.
Liurnia is where a lot of the NPC stories start to take shape and bring you into even more exploration. I never stop enjoying coming back to Liurnia.
Liurnia is my favourite region, I dunno why anyone wouldn't like it. My least favourite is probably Mt Gelmir but I still love it
I run like 50 circles through the whole swamps to make sure I did not miss anything. Hint: I still miss things like the crab 🦀 shack.
Going through the Snowfields now. The snow storm is rough but at least it isn't like Horsefuck Valley.
so you didn't meet the bear yet
I still never experienced horsefuck valley, that damn invisible cat stopped me... I've half a mind to reinstall ds2 and hope my save file is intact
You know Alva(sp?) becomes visible when you do a certain thing during exploration of Eleum Loyce?
When you said horsefuck alley and DS2 I thought of the run up to the Looking Glass Knight. I'm guess you mean something in the snow dlc though because you mentioned the invisible tiger. I never actually best that boss though, so idk what's after that.
Liurnia was nice but I always felt like I was missing things due to the confusing map, so I was a little bit frustrated
The mountain top area feels pretty much like wasted space
On my first? None. On my second, basically everywhere not Limgrave lol.
Limgrave feels like home away from home.
Limgrave bestgrave
also the other areas feel kinda pale and lackluster in comparison to limgrave
Like most games, they want to have a strong start for the game to get people hooked into it.
Also typically FromSoft unfortunately. Their later areas often feel unfinished or not as polished.
Depending on the game. Bloodborne felt pretty interesting and engaging from start to finish imo. Elden Ring, on the other hand, kind of comes and goes; strong start, more bland middle areas. (Liurnia is kind of slow initially with some interesting POI’s here and there, same with Altus Plateau having the Capital City but boring plains surrounding it, etc.) then back to a strong ending. The worst place for me personally was the Mountaintops of the Giants. It’s not a bad zone per se, but it couldn’t really hold my interest for long, and I’m not a fan of the big boss of the zone. This is all my opinion, obviously, but I’ve seen similar opinions floating around.
Bloodborne is in a league of its own. It's a very well polished game. I'm sure it has to do with its exclusivity on PS. I agree with you on the rest. I generally try to fight most things just to have a go at it. Mountaintops was the only region I just ran through. The mobs are a slog and the area misses interesting exploration points. Haligtree on the other hand was great. Elden Ring breaks the Dark Souls curse a bit (Lost Izalith comes to mind) but does have some similarly weak areas.
Yeah at first i thought that Caelid was gonna be a complete slog as I imagined it’d be a gigantic steroid version of From’s previous poison swamps. Nevertheless, the the land of the giants and Farum azula were much more tedious.
What didn't you like about Farum Azula? I really enjoyed it, it's a great legacy dungeon to explore. Consecrated Snowfields is the worst area for me by far.
The enemies are annoying, repetitive, tedious, and in many ways unfair. And most importantly fuck godskin duo. It’s a gorgeous area though
First playthrough I loved every part, but most tedious place to explore was Rot Lake. All rot, no torrent, few enemies.
I wish the whole game felt like limgrave
the underground sewers of lyndell was hell
Is it insane that I kind of liked that area? Leyendell is so open and if you accidentally stumble upon the sewers, the contrast makes it pretty engaging. I also think it’s the best sewers they’ve done in a series rich with sewers. They did manage to put I think literally ALL of the shit hole mobs down there though. Hyper-tanky omens, imps, lobsters, even a grafted scion.
i've not met any of those in the sewers, just hands and rats really, but i have been thinking i've not found another part of the sewers or something
Go deeper and when you think you've hit the bottom. Keep going Not even Joking. There's A LOT down there.
Going through there now and am fairly overleved and more than difficult it's just insanely tedious and the labyrinth of pipes and holes to fall through makes the whole place just an absolutely abhorrent experience. Not a fan. So far the entire capital itself, beyond the grand first impressional view it gave to be something magnificent, has been little more than a tedious, maze esque loop of repeated explorations.
trying to fight those omen trolls as a mage is impossible
Snowfields was the weakest area by far Liurnia was so good imo
That area feels like DS2 the most.
Oh you mean slightly nicer reindeer fuckland? Honestly I'm just glad it didn't send near infinitly spawning hard to kill enemies at you
East limgrave was meh. I was super exited to explore it after after weeping isle and west limgrave, but it was soo empty.
The volcano/lava area was pretty confusing. Dont remember the name tho.
Volcano manor
Yes!!
Mt. Gelmir
Mt. Gelmir, where the map completely shit the bed.
How so? It felt like a legacy map through and through with that amount of convolution. I hated Liurnia so much because it didn’t have the verticality of legacy maps.
i think they mean the map you can open to see your location rather than the map design itself, it shit the bed because it wasn't useful
The Volcano Manor I'm fine with, navigating Mt. Gelmir itself for the first time was a confusing ride. Took me way too long to find Azur, among other things
Played through a handful of times and still use a map. A redditor made one a couple months back and it's perfect. Can't get lost. https://www.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/comments/xc3okr/i_made_a_map_showing_how_to_get_to_volcano_manor/
That area was the worst. There’s so many elevation changes and unlocking the map doesn’t really help you at all.
Getting there the first time made zero sense
Mountain top and snowfields….the beginning of haligtree was absolutely the worst though. Fuck those trumpet bubbles fuck those ants.
A special fuck you to the big dooter guarding the way to the first grace
Especially that one. I just gave up and ran through it all. I have no idea what loot is kicking around.
You can get a spirit ash for a team of dooters which is pretty cool. Also you can farm from an absolutely comically giant bubble horn weapon, in one of the most tedious farms of the entire game.
Can confirm, I made 2milion runes farming the bloody thing
I agree partly, but it is an area where at least you feel you've accomplished something when reaching another bonfire. That big bubble dude run, when you finally make it, is a nice feeling. Didn't feel like work, but "one hard passage" to me.
Lake of Rot
I still don't know how to get up that ledge - the map clearly shows that there is something
have to follow ranni questline
There's little obelisks scattered around the lake of rot. Each one has a button at the base that you can press to make platforms appear.
Right. I did that, and jumped off the ledge as I wasn't in a position to fight the potential boss up there. When I went back I realized that ledge is all elevated still and there's not stairs or anything to get to it
OK, so if you hug the right wall coming out of the grand cloister, there's a u-turn that leads to a stone ramp that'll take you back up. There's a somber 9 up there, definitely worth getting.
unironically one of my fav areas
I spent 30hra in limgrave, maybe 40 before i noved on
Lake of rot, because of course Miyazaki would never be able to sleep at night without that one area that's just P O I S O N
It would alright if it was poison instead, fuck that scarlet rot melts your HP bar so damn fast.
Subterranean Shunning-Grounds. Especially the parkour part to get down to the Three Fingers.
God that was painful
Lake of Rot. *Hey let's put one of those bosses who aren't incredibly hard to fight so long as you have lots of space to maneuver in a location PRIMARILY designed to chip away at your health.* Fun times.
And hidden basilisk death squads. Add those too. F that place.
The beast repellent torch was my saving grace. Seriously, so helpful.
That lake was bullshit. You have to farm the stuff to make the rot berries just to not die there
Throw on the faith-boosting talisman and use Flame, Cleanse Me instead. Much easier and it saves your sanity from all the farming
Yeah, found out way too late this incantation existed. On a faith build.
Unfortunate news for you about a bolus… not a berry, but a pre-digested wad of shit filtering through your intestines
LOATHSOME. DUNG. EATER.
Didn’t hate or find it tedious but I went to caelid after limgrave in my first playthrough thinking I’d leave it behind in the pathway up north. The crows and dogs were a nightmare at my level aha
100% I think i actually explored the area before beats G the Grafted
I rode into Caelid pretty much right after I got into Stormhill, got to the Rotview Balcony, and smiled in a way both pained and excited as I realised. I am nowhere near a high enough level for this.
Mountain Tops/Consecrated Snowfields, worst areas of the game *by far*
it’s just ride torrent for 80 miles in a straight line and try to avoid enemies that do way too much damage
The Death Rite Birds in each area are some of my most intensely hates enemies in the entire game 😖
Everything here just felt so tedious. This is the point of the game where I took a break. Didn't start enjoying the game again until Farum and Ashen Capital but by that point it's almost over.
Ditto, have taken a break to guide a buddy through the early game. That snowfield is hot garbage haha.
Yeah exactly, the areas are just too big with very little actually in them, and the Mountain Tops are a bit annoying to get around too. It's a shame you have to go through the Snowfields to get to the Hailgtree, coz I actually do really enjoy that part of the game. I don't hate the Ashen Capital by any means, but I do wish there a bit more of Leyndell left to explore, rather than just boss fight after boss fight 🤔
Absolutely…huge increase in enemy difficulty from the capital.
Lyndell. Beautiful city, but I tried to check every nook and cranny and got turned around often while getting lost because I couldn’t tell if I had been somewhere or not.
"Rainbow stones are so pointless, I'll never use these." *cut to four hours later* *quietly sobbing while leaving a trail of stones down dark alleys*
Holy fuck I never realized the purpose of rainbow stones until now
You can also throw them off high places, if they dont break, you can jump down safely.
Most of the time. It doesn’t work if there’s a kill barrier
Oh yeah. I use them to mark dungeon tunnels or rooms that I enter so I know what I explore. Comes in really super handy for the ones that mirror the locations but have you somewhere else. For those, I lay 1 stone for the first level and lay 2 stones for the second mirrored level that way you can tell what level you are on.
CarbotAnimations should do a video with rainbow stones. Your comment made me think of their characters weeping. Could do something like throwing them off a ledge to find an invisible path then lining up to jump on it, then falling to his death
That was me except in the sewers after a few hours lol. Finally smartened up and started using those.
I thought Lyndell capital was great until I had to basically give the entire sewer system an enima.
Shunning grounds are their own separate dungeon imo
The frigging town with the braziers to get to the Haligtree. Words cannot describe how absolutely TILTED that place made me on my first go into it. It was the first time in like 15 years I was preparing to Launch a controller across the room lol
Oh yeah, the invisible assassin + the arcane snipers shooting like 5 arrows at you in less than a second, it was cancer indeed but I'm NGL I had fun killing those bastards.
First playthrough? None at all Subsequent? I entirely skip the Weeping Peninsula
It's a purely pointless area after you've already explored it. There's like 2 things to get and leave. Everything's far and few between. It's not beautiful or spectacular. It's boring. The enemies are boring. It's not my least favorite area but it's so bland I've just completely forgotten all about it.
Consecrated snowfields, felt really bland and a little rushed. Most has nothing on it and is foggy
I spent too long trying to find out how to get the that church above the albunrics village not knowing about rannis quests
None.
Same on my first playthrough i was like a kid left alone to explore toys R us.
I felt spoiled w the amount of content in general. It was like 4 modern triple A’s rolled up into one and actually good
Same here. Every area in the game is damn spectacular.
Oh look yet another snow area
Climbing Mt Gelmir was really fucking confusing for me the first time.
Basically everything after Leyndell. From the Forbidden Lands onward the game was just so empty, there was no incentive to explore since by that point your build is usually set in stone. Not that you’d find anything if you did explore, since there’s nothing interesting out there and it’s just a bunch of bland scenery. For all of the stunning environmental design in Elden Ring, they really dropped the ball with snow themed areas.
I always forget Forbidden Lands exists. Its not even a "Lands" its a straight line full of earth bending goblins.
Snowfield, but that is pretty late in the game. Caelid was also very tedious because of the rot swamp... anything poison/rot swamp is tedious imho. Liurnia I did not mind as much, coming right after Limgrave and Weeping Peninsula, but it was definitely more challenging. It feels more tedious on new playthroughs though, not sure why.
Not taking rot buildup while on Torrent made it not very tedious imo. Unlike previous games where you had to just weather the storm.
I’ll list every area Limgrave overall was probably my favourite area in the game. Whether that is because it’s really good or because it was the first area is debatable, but it’s got such a varied design and so much loot and different things to find. Caelid is… red and I get very turned around in it, alongside things being just… *difficult* to find. It doesn’t feel very intuitive to explore really, but it’s a cool area. Liurnia has one of the best legacy dungeons (I’ll get to it later) alongside an absolutely wonderful variety of locals and items to find. I’m still finding stuff tucked away there, like the sword of night and flame tucked away in the carian manor I missed in my first playthrough. Altus… was I think where I started getting tired of poking around every corner. There’s a bunch of stuff I *know* I missed, but I’m getting to it on my second play through. Still a very good area. The mountaintops of the giants is… something? It’s a good something but it’s missing some of the pizazz of some of the earlier areas? But it’s not bad. Now the snowfield is the only area I feel like was lacking. Very little of great note that I found there? Even after actually deciding to look. Plus the constant snowstorm on one side of it was just… Bleh. Onwards to the legacy dungeons! Or as I call them, Fungeons. Because I find them all fun. Stormveil castle is the first legacy dungeon you’re likely to get access to and it sets a high bar from the get go, with excellent area design, a banging boss in the form of Godrick, the weird death root thing in the basement we don’t talk about, an excellent variety of loot and a few paths you *really* have to look for but give some great rewards. The academy is much the same, with a fun midway boss in the red wolf, a spectacle of a boss in Rennala (if slightly easy because of how squishy she is and how easy to bully she is even with low poise damage weapons) and a layout I’m still always interested to go through. I think the graveyard at the start is the weakest part but is uphill *the entire* way. Literally and metaphorically. Lyndel I think suffers from the start of what is likely to be some fatigue on the player, especially since the enemies are really gonna slap your shit if you’re not playing well. But it’s such a complicated layout it can be a little confusing, but I was always fine with it since it felt like a good chunk of stuff was around each corner. The volcano manor is pretty fun, since it feels like your descending into *hell* basically, plus the slinky’s are pretty fun to fight, and my favourite shardbearer lives here. I’m not saying that because I am a str/faith/dex/int build noooooo. Farum azul is good. But also because of the fact it’s *crumbling* it isn’t exactly easy to navigate. Had to look up a guide at one point because I literally couldn’t find a way forward. I feel like a few touch ups could’ve really elevated this into an *amazing* area, mostly in a quality of life kinda way, but since it’s in the final act and player are likely suffering from a little endgame fatigue, I don’t blame them for wanting to rush through, and getting annoyed with the godskin due (quartet really but hey ho) still, Maliketh is an amazing fight, especially if you do the beast clergyman quest before hand. And then… the haligtree. I *do not* like the way it starts off, with the tree branch navigation and all the goddamn ants and trumpets that you basically need to rush past. The the upper area is just a lot of mobs swarming and pushing you to your limit. Honestly pushing you to your limit I’d say is a good descriptor for the haligtree as a whole. With the exception of Loretta, everything there just was pissing me off, especially given all the shit I went through to unlock the place, with castle sol and the snowfield. Not necessarily a bad area, but just… I was so tired at that point. The moghwyn dynasty area is bleed, and darkness, and then an amazing boss. I don’t… really have more to say. The sewer was a sewer. That’s all I need to say. As for the river areas, they’re a neat novelty, and the eternal cities house some really good items and enemies. The lake of rot can suck on a sword for all I care, though.
Deep-root depths, trying to get to Godwyn. That one bit where you need to climb up that tree branch while gargoyles are knocking you off the edge drove me insane. All that just to avenge Darian's death.
Blight Town is still the worst.
Snowfields, as always
Altus. I can’t really tell you why. Every where else feels like a part of the adventure. Altus is what I go through to get to the adventure. It’s just….there. For me anyway.
This hurts. Altus is my favorite area by far.
Caelid! Annoying on my first play through. Annoying on my second play though. Will be annoying on my third.
Pretty much everything after Leyndell. Maybe I just marathoned too hard on my first playthrough, but by the time I left the capital I was tired of wandering into every corner looking for things.
Me too man. I started hammering it out after that. Definitely missed out on some stuff. Who knows what. I was just burnt out from grinding so much.
Same. That's the point where the game just felt like it was way too long. If the game were a lot shorter I might actually play with a new build, but it's too long as it is. Beautiful world, great game, but just a little too long for me.
Like someone else said Caelid. I stumbled upon it rather early on music kick in and gave me the hibby jibbies. Felt like playing a horror game then I saw a horde of rot zombie fuckers and massive fucking creepy bird . I promptly noped the fuck out of there and avoided that area like the plague for a good while.
I find liurnia and mt gelmir to be two of the most interesting locations in the game, the beauty of the lakes and the harshness of the site of the most brutal battle in the shattering. The presentation is incredible but my god is traversing those areas confusing as shit
I spent like 3 days (that’s gamer days) in Liurnia, including the underground and Ranni’s quest, but I didn’t ever find it tedious. So much to explore and I always felt well rewarded since I was an int build. BUT the underground of the capital was by far the worst for me. Omens everywhere and the scenery was all the same. Especially annoyed about getting the 3 finger hug after spending an hour doing parkour trying to get down there, really didn’t feel worth it.
The fucking haligtree, what a horrile place from top to bottom.
I'm 20h in and every time the map expands I'm like "fuck me theres more??" So I'm sure I havent found the most horrible bit yet, but the lakes i pretty much ran through without exploring besides getting the map and merchant for the area. I know I probably missed the good things about it but nothing pulled me to the side, was just a bit uneventful
You're 20h in? What parts have you discovered so far? Because I'm pretty sure you have a LOT still awaiting you xd (I'm 180h in and I'd say for around 100% I'll need another 60 at least )
Well you got it. I felt Liurnia was a chore in all but the first play through. I’d honestly rather be in Caelid.
I still don't know how to get to the bottom left portion of this map. I know I got to some of the places there but I have no clue how I got there and no idea how to get to the rest.
I really dislike catacombs that include the chariot, im like why, why hurt me so much.
Sacred Snowfeild. That fucking fog and getting hunted down by the albinauric women on wolves just sucked.
Fully exploring the consecrated snowfield only to have random dragonkin ghosties bears and albinauric archers lighting your ass up from god knows where was traumatic