I’ve been playing Elden Ring (FromSoft) again with one of the two new classes (Idus Knight), the one that was billed as the flexible build class. Not that exactly, but that’s how I thought of it in my mind. I wanted to do a dexish build, but I ended up basically reverting to my faith-based character. I kept my reverse-blade knife this whole time (about a third of the way into the game–well closer to half), but I think it’s reached the end of its usefulness. I’ve been mostly using miracles, anyway, as is my wont.
Have you heard the good news of my favorite utility miracle, the Lightning Spear? It takes relatively little FP (Focus Points), is quick to throw (though you can charge it if you want), and it works well on most enemies. I have it in my first slot on all my characters (if I have the Faith to use it–which is 17. That’s relatively low. Idus Knight starts with 11 Faith, so it’s not hard to get to 17.
There’s a great basic miracle called Flame Cleanse Me that alleviates scarlet rot buildup (very important) and poison buildup. What I didn’t know until I looked it up just now was that it also alleviates frostbite buildup. Also, I only learned recently that it does 15 fire damage to yourself when you cast it. That’s negligent, though, and well worth it. I always get this incantation–always. It helps so much with certain areas *cough cough* Caelid, arguably the worst area in the game *cough cough*.
That’s not what I want to write about though. Before I continue, I will be spoiling optional areas, optional NPC quests, and other things related to both.
*SPOILER*
Let’s talk Ranni’s questline. More to the point, the area you access late into her questline. I want to talk about it because there’s a rise in it that is so damn annoying to get into. Rises are where sorcerors keep their best spells and memory stones. Memory stones are spell slots, essentially. Which, by the way, is so much better than leveling up attunement for slots. In Dark Souls III, it took an increasing amount of souls to get a level, and you needed certain amounts of levels to get another attunement slot. I usually had five slots because they cost so damn much. In Elden Ring, you get 10 spell slots by the end of the game (and a talisman that gives you an extra two). That’s double the slots without using any runes. Well, you have to buy at least one of the memory slots (and you start with two). And, of course, you have to increase your Mind in order to get more FP. Each spell/incantation costs FP to cast as does summoning most of your spirit ashes.
Ahem. Back to the rise. Chelona’s Rise. In order to get it, you have to ‘kill’ three wise beasts. It’s three giant ghost turtles. One is right next to the rise. Another is far away and you’ll never find it on your own (though there are turtles leading up to it, as there are to all three turtles). The third…ughhhhhh. This is the one that irritates me. It’s in the air next to a spirit spring (a stream of air that Torrent, your spirit steed, jumps into and shoots straight up in the air), and you’re supposed to jump up and hit it on the way down. It’s supposed to be pretty automatic.
Except. Once in a while, you won’t hit the turtle on the way down or be anywhere close to it. I did it several times in a row and didn’t get close. I tried to hit it with arrows, but it did not reach. I was getting frustrated. I could go back to a Site of Grace and reset it, but I was too stubborn to do that. In addition, if you rest at a Site of Grace any time during the quest, you have to start over. I had already gotten the turtle next to the rise and was feeling stubborn. I tried the stream jump maybe ten times and didn’t get anywhere close. I decided to try the bow again before starting over. Fortunately, I was able to hit the turtle with an arrow in the foot, but I was still irritated.
There is no reason this should still be an issue now. Well, really, there’s no reason to have this in the game at all. If it worked perfectly, well, I’d still use a guide to find the third turtle (I found the first two, including the turtle in the air myself).
In the past, I’ve gotten the air turtle easily and the third one, and then the one near the rise wasn’t there. I had to look it up, and this is a well-known glitch. Things that have helped–making it night at the Site of Grace and/or reading the plaque that tells you to find three wise beasts or whatever it says has done the trick in the past.
Did I need to do it? No. This particular rise had a sorcery that is very high level. That’s not the point, though. The point is that I wanted to do it, and it should have taken ten minutes (mostly because I get hopelessly lost), but it took longer than that.
Another thing that annoys me–the reuse of bosses, either as throwaway bosses or as common enemies. As I was doing this quest, three was a red wolf who was a boss early on. You can run into them three times in the wild and at least one more time in a cave/catacomb. By the time I get to this one, I don’t even want to bother. I have the sorcery that makes me nearly invisible plus the talisman that silences my footsteps. Which means I don’t have to fight anything I don’t want to out in the wild.
Some people consider it cheating; I say if it’s in the game, then it’s not cheating. Also, I’ve killed this particular red wolf at least twice before so I feel no need to kill them again.
I’ve killed everything in the game at least once. I have nothing to prove to myself or anyone else. At least I’m pretty sure I’ve killed everything once. There may be an enemy or two that I haven’t seen, but I doubt it.
It’s interesting watching other people play the game because–I’ll get into it tomorrow. I’m really tired and it’s time for me to go to bed. Though I did take a nap earlier.