Elden Rings: One week in and Still Learning.

So I spent most of my time last week farming runes in the new hit game Elden Rings. Runes help you level up your character. This in turn helps you not to get killed as much. You will get killed whichever way you look at it. I have learned from former soul games, if it moves just kill it. Best that way. Elden Rings claims that it is easier than the Soul series as it is open world which is true to a point. It is not that much easier though. At the start of the game you get greeted by a soldier on a horse called Tree Sentinel who quickly explains to newcomers that the apple hasn't fallen far from the Soul Series Tree. Tree Sentinel batters the living bejesus out of players in a matter of seconds so you quickly learn that sneaking around him and holding the revenge back for another day is better in this case. In past games I would go to a save point which are known as Grace points in this game and then go back to get him but he still beats the shit out of you. I tried to take sanctuary in a church where the save point is. In many computer games things tend to stay outside when you go indoors. But not this guy. He blows the bricks of the church apart to get you. It was at that point (when I was dying again) I realised this game was unbelievable.
As us Irish say

My Day will come and I will have my vengeance on that Tree Sentinel. I will be back when I am bigger and stronger and have a fuck off weapon. Oh Yes, Tree Sentinel I have my eye on you!
In another room with a chest near the dragon something grabs you and teleports you to another part of the map. Even the fucking chests are out to get me. A part of the map where the enemy is fairly strong. The game likes to trick you this way. "Get out of this you gobshite." So you spend the next 30 goes trying to run to a place to teleport you back to the safety of the field where you started.
Another example of these Elden Rings developers using propaganda saying it is an easier game than the Soul series.
So away from the bit where they are secretly trying to fuck the new players to Elden Rings. The first tip is to get the horse called Torrent. He is located at the Grace point outside the entrance to the road to Stormhill castle. Once you lie and rest at the Gracepoint it will cut to a scene where a girl comes and has a chat to you. The half horse, half mountain goat makes things a hell of a lot easier for you. The girl teaches you how to level up as well. So the more things you kill, the more you level up and in a little bit of time you will not be running away from the battle, you will be running towards the battle. There are various enemies you can kill on the map that gives you back a couple of thousand Runes. At the church where you find the Wonderous Physic, there is a teleport point to the north of the map to a place called the Beastial Ruins. Head outside and there are these little Ode Olyesses looking things that pack a punch but give you 1400 Runes per kill. You will level up pretty quick here and the game will become more enjoyable and less frightening if you stumble across so 50 Foot monsters.

I love the bosses in Elden Rings. Proper hardy fuckers. I went up to fight the first guy on a level 12 called Margit and he had me dead in a flash. This is why they call them bosses. The bosses in the Bloodborne series used to take me days to defeat. When you beat them there are multiple celebrations and some may even have a house party. This is what I love about this game. The excitement when you do find a way to fell the enemy. The cheat to this is to go to Reddit and ask for help. This summons the heavy hitters to your game and they defeat the bosses with one swipe of a sword but that is just no fun at all. Is It?

Once you have the horse you can quick travel back to the church of Elin at the beginning and this will change to a cut scene and you will be given the power to summons. These summoners really help with bosses or difficult enemies. The wolfs summoner and the Jellyfish summoner are two of my favourites to summons. It is all about making this game easier.

When it comes to armour, I make sure I have protection but I balance this with the freedom to move freely. I would rather have the ability to run from a fight or dodge effectively. The best form of defence is the shield or a jump or dodge so choose wisely.

Also I see people on Youtube doing tutorials and they are not using their pocket wallet effectively. Holding triangle on the PS5 brings this wallet up so I have my potions, horse whistle and all the things I use the most in this pocket. It is easy then to heal up with a potion by just holding triangle and pressing a direction button.

Stoneward Shards can be found in the Lumiere Tunnels. They can then go back to the church and upgrade your weapon. I have gone for a twinblade found in the swamp. It's fast and powerful and I feel like Darth Maul with it. I have the Ugatishu or whatever you call it as my reserve and that was found in some mini dungeon north of the map with skeletons in it. My shield is a fairly simple brass shield for now. Robbed it off one of the soldiers at the beginning of the game.

So there you have it. Be prepared for anything here in this game. Someone once told me that your health bar should be double that of your next attribute and until I actually leveled up to get these stats I was pissing against the wind. You need alot of health or vigor as the case is here.
Use your level up wisely depending on what you want to do. It is a game that has its own forums and communities and people are obsessed with it. It is also a game that requires research when you are not playing it. I sometimes laugh at the little notes people leave for you such as "Misery as usual." It is. Most of the game is in this miserable world where everyone wants to kill you. It is a game that frustrates you so much when you are defeated but you get so much excitement when you do finally vanquish a foe. I probably is one of the best games I have ever played. It is a mix of say Zelda and Resident Evil. How bad. My posts are drying up from playing the bloody game so I best cut down on this and concentrate on Hive a bit more this week.