I knew that returning to Elden Ring was going to be a big blow, especially since it had been a while since I played a Soulslike game. The +200 hours accumulated, the level 200 of my character, all the knowledge gathered in guides and all the times I have defeated bosses in summons by other players have been of no use.
It wasn't even enough to install the game days before and knock the rust off while helping other players defeat Mohg, Lord of Bloodwho has become the custodian of the entrance to the DLC. Nothing has helped and neither would it have with more days of training, because Miyazaki has fulfilled his purpose: to give us the beating of our lives… again.
Shadow of the Erdtree: another descent into hell
I've spent two years and over 200 hours traversing the Midlands and abusing every boss in the base game alongside other players. Malenia, Radahn and even Radagon ended up becoming jokes after so much repetition and a very beastly build focused on the Wheel of Ghiza and Bleeding. I don't know how many times I've passed over Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon.
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I moved forward into the DLC, brave and confident, unaware that I was about to discover a new floor in Miyazaki's personal hell. Leda, a new NPC, invites me into the Shadow Realm to follow Miquella. I've never particularly liked her, though I admit I would have given anything to avoid having to kill her sister, Malenia.
FromSoftware may have many aspects worthy of debate: difficulty and not madly pursuing the best graphics in the video game industry, but I think there are few studios that can overshadow it when it comes to stage design and the artistic section. I say this because that is how the Shadow Realm of Shadow of the Erdtree welcomed us all.
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Elden Ring It doesn't need any HUD or minimap markings to show us the way, but instead uses the layout of the map to clearly show us the shortest path to the end. It doesn't take much studying to be very clear about what our main objective is (a priori): the huge castle in the background.
I'd bet money that we all did the same thing when we took our first steps in the Shadow Realm: Gracia, then Monolith with the map of the area and finally Scorched Ruins, our first location in the DLC. In my case it wasn't as quick as I would have liked, because literally the first enemy I encountered managed to send me to Gracia with astonishing ease. In fact, it forced me to switch to dual katanas to match its speed.
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After exploring the Burnt Ruins, I headed east in search of a building I had seen on the map. The shape was very similar to the chapels dedicated to Márika. The road seemed calm. The vegetation moved in the wind, the animals ran between the ghost tombs and the music conveyed absolute tranquility.
Suddenly, I saw something move among the vegetation. He was a naked man running at full speed towards me. I thought he was a mere bandit, so I went down the torrent and prepared to confront him. Imagine my terrified face when I saw that he was an NPC with the name: Logar, The Claw of the Beast. Another very fast enemy and he sent me to the first Grace in record time. Unfortunately, it wasn't there when I returned.
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It was undeniable that it was still very rusty. And in case it wasn't clear to me, the soldiers from the chapel that was my objective (Church of Consolation) were in charge of making it clear to me that the cockiness was over. I was killed several times before I could collect all the important items in the area. I admit I felt a little humiliated, but hey… it's FromSoftware. I knew what I was getting into by purchasing the DLC.
I went back to the initial Grace and explored the northwest of the initial area or the west of the Scorched Ruins. I found the Nameless Western Mausoleum, which had the classic golden fog that hides a boss in Elden Ring. I prepared my equipment knowing that it was going to go very badly. If three minds in the world had killed me with ease, whatever was inside was going to break me in two. So it was!
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The Knight of Solitude was killing me over and over again for an hour. I wasn't willing to take any more abuse, so I looked for the nearest summoning altar, which was next to the mausoleum door, to call other players. However, I hadn't seen any messages on the ground for a while, nor was I able to summon anyone. It turns out that either my internet or the servers would fail and I was playing in offline mode.
I wasn't doing anything properly. I logged back in and summoned a player. He had a bleed build, like me, so it was clear that the Knight of Solitude had his minutes numbered. He was beaten so badly that he barely lasted a minute. I'm sure many of you will look at me with shame for taking the cooperative path, but stay for a couple more paragraphs.
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It is true that I use summons (NPCs and players) to overcome most bosses. Elden Ringbut know that I have a self-imposed penance: help other players beat the boss until I at least learn all of the boss's moves and achieve several consecutive victories. Fails due to the host's death do not count.
I didn't progress past this point during my first day in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree. The next five hours were about fighting the Knight of Solitude over and over again alongside other players, such as Doctor Strange with Dormammu. That for so many people in the community who boast about not using summons, I didn't have to wait even a second after putting my summon mark on the ground.
I switched back to the Ghiza Wheel and found that each hit of the heavy weapon stunned the knight, so my role during fights was to attract the enemy's attention (partly thanks to an amulet) and give him as many hits in a row as I could to stop him. keep him stunned. This way, the rest could pepper him with blows. So I got the beating of my life, but I gave it back in spades.
In VidaExtra | The design of Elden Ring is more masterful than I imagined: they have opened my eyes with a great detail and I can't stop thinking about it
In VidaExtra | Elden Ring's exploration is unrivaled: it's on par with (or even above) Subnautica and The Legend of Zelda
At VidaExtra | Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree was released a few days ago, but its interactive map is already complete so you don't miss anything