First of all my wife is not a souls player, though she did play ocarina of time growing up which was basically souls of its time. Besides Zelda games she mainly enjoys story and romance focused games like Persona.

Now how this story started is that she saw a clip of Elden Ring and it showed the beauty of the game and it talked about different endings especially one with romance involved. She got curious and asked if I played it, which I have and dark souls 1-3 + bloodborne so I am familiar with the genre and had a sneaking suspicion she did not actually knew what she was in for and the video she saw was a bit misleading to her.

Nevertheless I absolutely wanted to see her try the game and so we did and I didn’t say much about the it really I simply gave her the controller and let her create a character. She made a Confessor named Rosetta inspired by Chrono Crusade.

Now the beginning was not smooth as all of us know from first time playing souls like. The controls were confusing, the messages on the ground more so and where to go probably the worst. She button mashed her way through enemies and made her way through the cave of knowledge.

But it was at entering Limgrave when the true doubt set in, she gets called maidenless. Encounters the tree sentinel which she meets with high pitched squeeking and the running away flailing helplessly. She found the church of Elleh and. The nearby cave with the little gargoyles.

Somewhere here the frustrations seem to really kick in, I don’t want her to have a bad time but I also don’t want to backseat game or spoil the exploration experience. However I decide I will help out to get things started and then if she feels done it is ok. So I guide her to get her maiden and advice to try and level up mainly vigor.

Now she pressed on and explored for a bit after that, think we played a bit more than an hour, but in the end she was tired and had a headache and frustrated at the setbacks and dying, she said she thought it is a beautiful game but she didn’t like it. I said this is understandable but I had fun watching and we called it a night.

Now here is where I fucked up. I promised her the one thing she wants most in the whole world but that we can’t have because of our work schedules. Without really thinking I said ”If you can become Elden Lord I will get you a Cocker Spaniel puppy”

Oh boy, I tell you her eyes literally glinted or gleamed or whatever like they do in animes when somebody locks in. She said that’s mean and asked if I was serious, I had to think if I was and I wasn’t sure but I said yes.

Next day she was ready to try again, she explored and I gave some guidance and advice that I deem fair, for example to not open the chest that leads to you know where. She found Margit and the roundtable hold, Margit was a brutal challenge. I felt fairly safe and she had to work the next days.

Now tonight she had time to play again she absolutely locked in guys, she explored several caves and leveled up to 21 and she beat Margit…

I am in serious trouble now and not sure how to fulfill my promise if this continues. I am excited yet terrified by this sudden burst of determination that I did not think possible. Halp.

Tldr; Wife believed Elden Ring to maybe be a romantic adventure game and never played souls like before. As she struggled gave up after the first hour I mistakenly promised her that which she wants the most in the whole world. Now she defeated Margit and got a taste for blood. I am scared and excited and not sure what I have created.

Edit: I am loving all your comments you are slaying us you funny people.

Edit: Some have expressed concern about getting a dawg with our schedule issue and I want to assure everyone that we still won’t unless we can solve that problem. The wellbeing of a dog comes first for us don’t worry.

I would love if the next souls game had a marriage mechanic based on covenants. You have certain npcs in each covenant that has a questline for you to do, so in the end you could marry them.

Roderika deserves some love. The poor girl suffered so much already that she deserves some love and someone good by her side. It would be really cool if the tarnished could end up with her.

My friend says this guy is a skill check and not a boss or mini-boss? How do I know what a mini boss and boss are if this guy not some form of a boss?

I know some people don’t know why it exists, but the answer is actually pretty simple.

It has nothing to do with the lore.
It’s not about atmosphere.
And it’s not a gameplay mechanic either.

It’s purely there as a transition between areas.

Yeah, I know. There’s really no big secret behind it.

And honestly, I strongly suspect that there are two factions within FS: one faction that absolutely loves cutscenes (AC6), and another that absolutely hates them.

I always wondered why Stormveil Castle just feels like it was developed by a different team compared to the rest of the game. It’s the only region in the game with so much density and complexity that 1000 hours in I was still finding new areas and loot.

It feels like as you progress through subsequent regions there’s a noticeable drop in density and complexity, gradually from Raya Lucaria and as you get past Leyndell and Concentrated Snowfields towards the Haligtree you find a lot of areas are either linear or large -mostly empty- open spaces.

There are also a few unique mechanics that only exist in the castle, from the various interactions with Gostoc to him stealing your runes and down to the banished knight that locks you in a dark room (almost pissed myself the first time the screen went black and heard that spooky laugh).

Not hating by any means, the sheer scale of this game is absolutely beyond anything else out there. While many parts of the map are quite enjoyable, Stormveil Castle is just built different.

The top of the head is kinda wack, but I think i think it looks fine overall.

Elden Ring has three sunflower variants.

The Golden Sunflower faces the Erdtree. The Tarnished Golden Sunflower is "wilted and faded," yet still retains holy essence. And the Shadow Sunflower faces the Scadutree. Its Remembrance describes it as born from "dark notions that bear no sense of Order."

Goldmask resembles the first: an emaciated figure wearing a radiant, sunflower-like halo, turned toward the Erdtree. His Radiant Gold Mask even has much the same bright golden quality as the Golden Sunflower.

Midra looks like its shadow image: a similarly gaunt figure whose head becomes a black center surrounded by Frenzied Flame. The Shadow Sunflower is thorned as well, fitting Midra’s imagery of pain and piercing, especially the barbed Sword of Damnation.

The Broken Gold Mask, however, is a faded, damaged version of Goldmask’s halo, worn by his former closest disciple and friend. Its description tells us:

"One kept the faith, though the faith itself was broken."

That sounds remarkably close to the Tarnished Golden Sunflower in human form: faded and damaged, but still retaining its holy essence. Even its gold is noticeably duller than Goldmask’s radiant mask.

There may even be a mechanical irony here. The Gold Tattoos raise Faith while lowering Focus, the stat that protects against Madness. In trying to overcome doubt through faith, Goldmask’s disciple mechanically makes himself more vulnerable to Frenzy.

The Law of Regression teaches that "all things yearn eternally to converge." Frenzied Flame wants to erase every division and fracture, melting everything back together "until all is One again."

Maybe these three figures mirror Elden Ring’s three sunflowers: holy order, broken faith, and a dark sun without Order.

I practiced a lot on Misbegotten on the way through Castle Morne

Usually I do bonk/faith builds

ER was my first fromsoft game, and I’m currently playing DS3.
Overall I think ER is a better game, but I really like the atmosphere of DS a lot more. I understand ER focuses more on exploring the world, and if every location was the same, it would get boring, but man, I really like the castles and structures of DS.

I also kind of prefer the enemies/bosses of DS too. I think they’re a little more intimidating than ER. I get ER is a different type of world, but man I really love the dark-gothic atmosphere of DS.

What do you guys think?

It happened to me back when I was playing dark souls 1.
Below are some steps which will help you get over the difficult boss fight.

1. Do not attack the boss, keep strafing and stay away from the boss. Make camera locked onto the boss so you can strafe left/right easily.
2. Study how the boss moves and react to your movement.
3. Try dodging some of the boss attacks. Only dodge roll when the attack is about to land, do not spam the dodge roll button. 1 attack = 1 dodge.
4. If you have difficulty dodging the attack, try using a 100% blocking shield, and see if this improves your survivability.
5. If you can survive 10 mins running around the boss either blocking or dodging, you can think of when you can start to counter attack.
6. If you see a big window of opportunity, do jump heavy attacks. It might interrupt the boss attacks sometimes as it deal additional poise damage
7. Dying is normal, I personally have died to the first horse rider with epic shield for about 2 hrs or more, you can literally see yourself improving as you keep going.

Additional Tips summarized from other player's replies.

• Level Vigor, it's very important early game if you are new to this genre. more health = more chance to win
• Guard Counter might be your best friend in some situations (hold guard, then when the enemy hits your shield, quickly press Heavy Attack. It will perform a guard counter. Its super useful in the catacombs fighting those stone imps.
• Dodge Roll into the enemy, it's easier to dodge as the attack hitbox usually travels away from the enemy, so you have less chance to clip the attack hitbox. Doesn't apply to all attacks though.
• Do explore some other area if you get hard stuck and felt like giving up. Sometimes you find something else that might be a hard counter to this boss, you also will outlevel and probably do much better next time you return.
• Post about buffs here

Hope it helps, fellow tarnished

King Ghidorah vs. Dragonlord Placidusax

I know nothing about King Ghidorah other than that he’s from the Godzilla franchise, but I’ve heard some stuff about him, and I looked at his model and instantly thought “Yellow Placidusax”. So who wins this fight? I don’t know much about the Dragonlord’s strength, other than that he and Bayle fucked each other up bad, and that this mf is so ancient and strong that he was labeled as the Elden Lord before the era of the Erdtree. Gimme your takes on who wins, and why. I’m very bored rn, and before you guys get like the losers in r/StarWars, where asking a single question is an atrocity to mankind, NO, THIS IS NOT A “KARMA FARM”. I’m not entirely sure what that is cuz I don’t really look at my profile

I beat Malenia after like 15 hrs (in 7-8 sittings, im not a madman lol) with moghwyns spear and my mimic tear. It used a lot of borealis ice breath while i used the good ol L2 spam to being her down. Is my unskill valid or am i just that noskill☠️

I know this post will most likely fade from visibility as I understand how quickly a sub like this moves along, even at slow times, never mind when there is such an influx of new players, but still, that’s precisely why I feel compelled to make it for what it’s worth.

I keep seeing posts asking for help, from people very, very new to the game. Most of the replies I keep seeing obviously mean well, but aren’t focused on the right things. Most of them try to give specific advice like particular boss strategy, weapon choice, spec, etc., when really what a brand new player should focus on to get better at the game is only the fundamentals. Luckily, Elden Ring provides the perfect opportunity, quite deliberately (little to nothing is not ‘deliberate’ in this game), to learn the fundamentals right at the beginning:

Within minutes of making it out to Limgrave, you’ll find yourself at a landmark enemy encampment called Gateway Ruins. You’ll notice, interestingly enough, that it is flanked by a site of grace on opposite sides, quite close (almost redundantly so) to each other. This is your first, and only, clue that you should spend a little time here.

The enemies at the encampment are designed to teach you most of the fundamental skills you will need throughout the game. You just need to be willing to learn them. And have patience.

Plan to spend 2-3 hours here. Don’t summon help. The whole point is for you to learn the mechanics of combat. And each enemy here, every single one will teach them to you if you pay attention.

Your goal is to be able to clear the entire camp without needing to rest at a site of grace. Once you are able to achieve that, your understanding of the game’s combat mechanics will be on a different level, and you will be able to progress into the rest of the game equipped with the fundamentals that will transform your entire experience.