Various Thoughts

After clearing Nokron, which took a surprisingly long time thanks to the dual Gargoyle boss fight (ended up having to trick the first one into jumping off the waterfall edge right next to the entrance), the next stop was the Alteus Plateau/Mt. Gelmir area.

These two areas are basically one and are overall quite a bit easier than Caelid. The strange thing is that to get here properly though, you have to either pick up the Medallion half from Caelid’s Fort Faroth, or defeat a Magma Wyrm boss tougher than the Gael Tunnel version. The only things really worth noting about this area, difficulty-wise, are the Full-Grown Fallingstar Beast (which is tricky since the battle takes place on a mountaintop) and the Shaded Castle location… although I did skip Rykard for quest-related reasons.

I also ended up killing that previously skipped Crystalian trio while finishing Sellen‘s quest. Mimic Ashes +7 with Nightrider Flail +13 was enough, particularly after I realized that the mage could be backstabbed to interrupt its spells. When all that was said and done I was level 102 (Vig 39, End 25, Str 12, Dex 50, Fai 15, Arc 20) with Reduvia +9, Great Knife +17, Eleonora’s Poleblade +6, Nightrider Flail +14, Serpent Bow +6, and Fanged Imp/Jellyfish/Ancestral Follower Ashes +7.

Leyndell was up next since I’d assumed it would be easier than the Noskella or Deeproot Depths sidequest locations.

There isn’t much of note in the outskirts besides the dual Crucible Knight boss fight. Notable mostly because it was far easier than I thought it’d be: Summoned the Greatshield Soldiers and Rotten Breathed them mostly to death on the first try.

Inside the city proper (which is lain out similar to a legacy dungeon) there’s quite a bit to discover, but nothing all that challenging to defeat as far as combat goes. The challenge here mostly lies in both not getting lost and completing a platforming puzzle in the Subterranean Shunning-Grounds if you want a particular ending. Was level 113 (Vig 40, Fai 20, Arc 25) at the end of it all with the following upgrades over the previously listed equipment: Great Knife +20, Eleonora’s Poleblade +7, Nightrider Flail +17, Fanged Imp/Greatshield Ashes +9, and Mimic/Ancestral Follower/Jellyfish Ashes +8.

So now I’m on my way to (hopefully) clear out those aforementioned sidequest areas before heading through the Forbidden Lands.

Liurnia turned out to be a pretty easy area with no difficult enemies of note, though I also ended up having to clear Siofra River since I accidentally skipped it earlier. Which turned out to be a fortunate occurrence since there are some pretty nasty ancestral spirits infesting that area. Anyway, after clearing everything but the Divine Tower and southwestern plateau (both of which are tied to a later quest) I was level 63 (Vig 19, End 25, Str 12, Dex 31, Fai 15, Arc 20) and still using the Reduvia/Great Knife combo (+3 and +11 at the time).

Next up was Caelid, which is a noticeable spike in difficulty. Quite a number of nasty enemies here. The stand-outs being the Crystalian trio in Sellia Hideaway (which I decided to skip since they don’t drop anything useful to me and I had no good summons that did strike damage) and Black Blade Kindred in front of the Bestial Sanctum (had to ultimately use Skeletal Militiamen +4 as a semi-renewable decoy). Apparently Radahn was much harder in earlier versions of the game, but as of v1.03.2 at least his difficulty is roughly on par with the two previous Grand Rune holders.

At the time of his defeat I was level 87 (Vig 31, End 25, Str 12, Dex 43, Fai 15, Arc 20) with: Reduvia +6, Great Knife +15, Eleonora’s Poleblade +5, & Nightrider Flail +12. Since then I’ve cleared the few remaining Caelid areas (besides those Crystalians) and have started exploring Nokron.

While I don’t dislike the game at this point, it as yet hasn’t done anything to change my initial impression. So… it’s okayish as something to intermittently play while taking breaks to do other stuff.

Just cleared the first of the game‘s Legacy Dungeons (Stormveil Castle), two of which apparently have to be completed in order to beat the game.

Did it at level 45 (17 Vig, 25 End, 12 Str, 22 Dex, 15 Arc) after having cleared the rest of Limgrave (aside from the Divine Tower) and all of the Weeping Peninsula. Dual-wielded Reduvia +2 and Great Knife +6 for the majority of the dungeon, with a bit of help from the Serpent Bow to peel stragglers off the bigger packs. It took a surprisingly long time but the only really difficult parts were not getting lost and dealing with the murder birds. Though I guess the knights with their apparently unstoppable windy homing attack combo were also pretty nasty.

The Tree Spirit in the basement would have been hard if I hadn’t already defeated the tougher version in the Fringefolk Hero’s Grave. Neither of them hold a candle to the Crucible Knight however, who is easily the toughest enemy you’ll find in these first two zones. I ended up having to use the Spear +7 a certain NPC drops to finally beat him (the range on the charged attack is perfect for hitting him after a roll) since he’s immune to Bleed and poison arrows weren’t doing anything… besides being blocked more often than not.

Apart from the stuff noted above, another key offensive item is the Fanged Imp Ashes I chose as a starting item. Choosing them was the best decision I’ve ever made blind. There’s two of them, they dodge, are resistant/immune to poison, have a ranged attack, and cause Bleed. Just incredibly powerful against single targets and great for evening the field against multiple targets. That said, I’ve also used the Jellyfish Ashes against the Erdtree Avatar and the Rotten Stray Ashes against that aforementioned Fringefolk boss battle.

Now to clear Liumia next, where there’s apparently an insanely overpowered weapon waiting in one of dungeons. Which will be nice to have the next time I run into another Crucible Knight situation.

With the whole ‘open world’ thing I was kind of hoping that this was going to be more like Dragon’s Dogma than a classic Souls game.

It’s not. It’s extremely Dark Souls in terms of gameplay (albeit with Sekiro‘s stealth system), which I consider notably inferior balance-wise to DD. The exploration/discovery aspects on the other hand are far, far better. Exploring the various nooks and crannies of the map actually feels legitimately rewarding, with plenty of unique or unusual things to find scattered about… which puts me in a bit of a bind.

I want to keep playing to collect stuff, but don’t really want to deal with bullshit enemies or the ‘dodge 10 attacks, strike once or twice’ style of boss fight the game seems especially fond of. Well, I’ll play it by ear I guess with a focus toward a Dex/Arcane build targeted toward weapons like Eleonora’s Poleblade, Rivers of Blood, Reduvia, Ripple Blade, and the Serpent Bow.

Some extremely important things to do right at the start which aren’t immediately obvious:

– Clearing the Tutorial area rewards a gesture.
– Once you get outside, head north to find a ruined church.
– Inside is a merchant and a weapon upgrade location.
– Follow the road northeast to reach Gate Ruins (the small cross on your map).
– Activate a save point just north of it to unlock the leveling system and horse riding.
– Clear the ruins to find a map and an item which unlocks the weapon enchantment system.
– Farm levels/Smith Stones if you want, then rest until nightfall and warp back to the church.
– A new NPC will be there who’ll unlock the spirit summoning system.

Now all the basics are available to explore as you please.