Yes that is where I am at now in terms of map progression. Its super annoying quite honestly. I have killed 2 invaders and need to hit up that church, I think thats the spot to go to. Its just finding the spot without running off a cliff is a huge pain
One reason why we should all join the ELEKNAUT group on Elden Rong, every time one of us does something remarkable, all those in the group get a boost in the amount of runes they get!
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Finally defeat Godrick the Grafted only to be two-hit killed by birds. Ugh. The gameās random difficulty makes no sense. This is the first game ever that requires I take a time out. Haha I actually get so furious that I feel panicked. I think to myself āwhy is this funā? And Iāll put it away for a couple of days. Itās an interesting world but feels incredibly vacant on the story front.
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Can you do this and not get invaded and stuff? Havenāt logged on for online yet. And does the group password only show messages from this community?
Just finished Ranniās quest. The boss fights where kind of ok for once. I struggled so much more with Rennala.
Iām always online and only get invaded by if I use certain summoning items, or by npc. Invasions have been changed since past games, you need to be open to them, or have summoned other players already.
You still see all message but messages from the group are a different colour.
If you are playing coop with a friend you are open to invasions, you cannot turn this feature off
Thatās ok, at least you donāt get invaded as often as previous ds games.
Which is a reliefā¦
Iāve read this many times, but I canāt understand it. But what can be said is that the story isnāt served up on the tablet. You have to look for them, so to speak, each object says something more and is peppered with metaphors about the transience of things, of life, rise and fall, abuse of power. Timeless motifs. Everything is very profound, extremely melancholic and mostly very well told.
So I recommend this channel if you want to take your time, and you should, because itās worth it.
Have fun
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On the Difficulty spike point, Iāve wondered about this too. My retrospective view is that From are trying to subtly (and later on not so subtly) tell the player to switch weapons and use your inventory more. I basically completed the game using Moonveil and a staff for 90% of it but I def would have found it easier if I had changed things up. I was just hard headed and determined to do it the only way I knew for. I think Melania was the only time I gave up, respecced and beat her ass. Then respecced back to my favourite 
I do think the game wants for you not to be pigeonholed in your approach though. Maybe if I start Journey 2 Iāll change a littleā¦
What level were you when you fought Malenia?
I fought her about level 130 maybe, walked in, summoned my mimic, and then absolutely shrekt her w/ Moonveil. My mimic and I staggered her constantly. I beat her first try.
I love the fact that I can read this entire post and the only aspect of the game I recognise is the letter D.
Found the second river (or at least my second river) last night and fought through to defeat the Malformed Star, past all the ants and - yes! - basilisks to the big guy sitting on his high chair, who I left alone. Then went up north and stealthed the camp with the giant catapults, with the help of good old Lhutel, and wound up at the big lift I canāt start yet. Oh, and went through the caves to the Slumbering Wolfās Shack. Huge amounts of stuff that was new to me, and still Iām only recognising single letters in other peopleās posts.
I found the Icerind Hatchet recently too, which was good because I wanted something I could put Somber Stones into, and an altertative to slash damage (well, I have the whip, but that competes with the katana for stones). I understand it was nerfed before I found it, but itās still working out very nicely. Oh, and that has somehow reminded me that I found a new whetstone, I need to check out what that does later. Quite often in the heat of running around Iāll just press Y to dismiss a notification and then wonder what the hell I just picked up.
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152 now. About 142 when I beat her.
I think If you can stun lock her and avoid that mad whirlwind attack thing then you can do crazy damage. Same with the Elden Beast were if you can get underneath it Iāma certain way the AI canāt react and the fight is a skoosh. Neither happened for me though
First timed every boss after Fire Giant other than Gidskin Duo where I needed a second go. Like genuinely smashed through them rapidly. Melania was brutal though for me. Not Isshin levels but def the hardest boss in the game for me.
If you want the rune buff all the time, join vaatividyaās group as well. The password is āseekersā it has so many players that you basically have the rune buff all the time 
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I had long since found the fog wall in Stormveil Castle- I just assumed it was a different mini-boss before Godrick.
I took a break from exploring the castle and was like, hey ill see what this boss is.
I just fiddled around a bit fighting him(figured I was gonna die anyway- so what?), and, I canāt believe how comparatively easy Godrick is compared to Margit the Fell.
No cliffs to fall from is a big one. Also, Godrick seems to have more gaps in his attacks- ultimately a less ruthless boss.
I donāt understand the difficulty scaling in this game 
I certainly struggled less with Godrick - but by then I was more comfortable with my moves and summons, and had better gear. I think Margit probably is meant to be harder, so you bounce off him early on and are encouraged to explore the rest of the map. Thereās no need to make Godrick quite as painful by the time you get to him.
I made it to Atlas last night and found a little dungeon with a boss fog. Prepped myself and summoned Lhutel, and it was over in about six seconds. I was fully prepared for the Plateau to be a nightmare, and Iām sure it soon will be, but so far itās been manageable. Tell you what, Elden Ring, what the hell - Iāll let my guard slip and relax for a while.
I also went looking for access to a pickup I could see but not reach in Stormveil, which ultimately led to me discovering the whole underground section - which was great. And Iām sure there are other sections in there Iāve passed by and forgotten about.
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I made it to the āendā of elden ring. Iām not sure how I feel. It was a bit of an anti climax. I did the Renna ending. I chose not to start journey 2 as I know I skipped a bunch of areas. I still have no idea what the plot is about.
I had seen some horror stories about the last few bosses, but it was a cake walk to be honest.
Mimic ashes and Wing of Astel seemed to destroy everything.
At least cheat code tables exist for Sekiro otherwise Iād never get past ten minutes of the game. I loved Sekiro such an epic game as well as the Dark Souls and original Demon Souls games. Iām waiting for bug fixes with Elden Ring on PC to come out to fix the stuttering performance issues as well as Steam sale on the game. Maybe by then cheat engine tables will be out as well for us casual gamers.
Atlas isnāt too bad really. There are things there that can pretty easily cause some trouble, but for general exploring I thought Caelid was a bit more of a learning curve earlier on. If you need to farm some runes quickly to bump a level up, I highly recommend the Windmill Village on the outskirts of Atlas. The basic enemies there drop a lot of them each. Iāll clear the village out a couple of times, and usually have what I need. Thereās a lot to find up there.
Side note: I just discovered Jarburg last night. Such a cool touch to the game world! Wonāt say anything else. Iāve been out of that area for a while now, but went back to see if I missed anything, and just happened upon it.
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At least on my PC the game doesnāt stutter anymore. It will occasionally have a small hitch when loading a new map cell (or however they handle that) but the constant hitching and rubber banding has completely disappeared for me. Iām not running terribly crazy hardware either. (Intel 11700, 32GB, RTX 3060) Even though my TV is 4K, Iām playing at 1080 with nearly all settings maxed out. I turn down the blur settings and SSAO a bit, and thatās about it. I havenāt had a single issue with it in the last couple of weeks. I didnāt have a lot of them to begin with, but did see stuttering for the first couple of weeks that it was out.
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