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If you are playing Elden Ring on the PC just use WeMod for your single player fun if you don't care about being the perfect player/character build to get by the bosses.
 
Do you guys think its worth getting one of these official written guides for Elden Ring?
I know that the guide to Skyrim made the game about a 100x times better, because you
can complete every quest, find every dungeon, and most importantly, find all the best weapons
and armor in the game.
OTOH, games like AC Valhalla you can pretty much uncover everything on your own (that's actually one of the joys of that game).
So is it worth getting a guide for Elden Ring? And if so, which one?
 
sycamore said:
Do you guys think its worth getting one of these official written guides for Elden Ring?
I know that the guide to Skyrim made the game about a 100x times better, because you
can complete every quest, find every dungeon, and most importantly, find all the best weapons
and armor in the game.
OTOH, games like AC Valhalla you can pretty much uncover everything on your own (that's actually one of the joys of that game).
So is it worth getting a guide for Elden Ring? And if so, which one?
Click to expand...
Personally I think written guides died with the internet. If you're after something, the internet knows where it is, and most reddits are going to give you about everything a game guide can.

If you love games and hard copies and want it for a library no harm done but personally I'd trust nerds on the internet to regurgitate most of that content with very little effort, even if because the ones who bought the guide already would be happy to share what the community has missed.

Plus then you get privilege to the debates between perspectives and can forge your own path a little.
 
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sycamore said:
Do you guys think its worth getting one of these official written guides for Elden Ring?
I know that the guide to Skyrim made the game about a 100x times better, because you
can complete every quest, find every dungeon, and most importantly, find all the best weapons
and armor in the game.
OTOH, games like AC Valhalla you can pretty much uncover everything on your own (that's actually one of the joys of that game).
So is it worth getting a guide for Elden Ring? And if so, which one?
Click to expand...
Sometimes that can be hard. Lke for Pathfinder games there is good wikia with about all the quests but not necessarily like optimal order. Tbh honest I like a bit more of a linear path but could just be the optimizer in me that goes against do anything in any order. I picked up a big old play guids for Witcher 3 but still not exactly what I was looking for more of linear order play through.
 
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usiel said:
Sometimes that can be hard. Lke for Pathfinder games there is good wikia with about all the quests but not necessarily like optimal order. Tbh honest I like a bit more of a linear path but could just be the optimizer in me that goes against do anything in any order. I picked up a big old play guids for Witcher 3 but still not exactly what I was looking for more of linear order play through.
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Witcher 3 is a great case study of a game that just can't have a linear play order. You can probably try to theorize some sort of min/max but a good portion of the game is designed for you to not need that in order to flourish. That's a great "follow your heart and do what you want" game with so many reasonable options to proceed that there just isn't a path.

Shit, sometimes on your way to the path you'd trigger a time-sensitive incident that required dealing with in the moment or you just live with the repercussions of the choice. I remember sailing down to the ghost island for that quest fairly early in the game about the haunting of a keep and its people, and on the way I saw somebody chained to a rock with a quest prompt that I ignored, and came back to find him dead. Another time I was galloping through a crossing and and saw a little battle go off, and realized later that I could have had a quest line if I'd stopped and helped the people asking for it, but I was on a mission.

Unless that guide is writing for the expected time-sensitives it's not going to be any better than collecting your own data, Witcher 3 is a masterpiece with so much lateral room to explore that any guide is going to put you in a corner.
 
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HTFN said:
Witcher 3 is a great case study of a game that just can't have a linear play order. You can probably try to theorize some sort of min/max but a good portion of the game is designed for you to not need that in order to flourish. That's a great "follow your heart and do what you want" game with so many reasonable options to proceed that there just isn't a path.

Shit, sometimes on your way to the path you'd trigger a time-sensitive incident that required dealing with in the moment or you just live with the repercussions of the choice. I remember sailing down to the ghost island for that quest fairly early in the game about the haunting of a keep and its people, and on the way I saw somebody chained to a rock with a quest prompt that I ignored, and came back to find him dead. Another time I was galloping through a crossing and and saw a little battle go off, and realized later that I could have had a quest line if I'd stopped and helped the people asking for it, but I was on a mission.

Unless that guide is writing for the expected time-sensitives it's not going to be any better than collecting your own data, Witcher 3 is a masterpiece with so much lateral room to explore that any guide is going to put you in a corner.
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Even PF has some time sensitive quests and its not open world so for sure would be good to know which ones especially after a few run throughs.
 
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HTFN said:
But I should have. Should have just let nerds figure the weird stuff out for me and live my life. Then my console bricked and I haven't played since.
Click to expand...

I'm totally this way now. Any game that's solo or even an online game with limited content -- all I really want to do is play through the story. I enjoy the gameplay, but anything that requires a modern controller that's clumsy to play on PC without it, I'm out.

And weirdly it's almost like games are designed for that now. All of the Batman games since the first Arkham one you can pretty much win by mashing buttons. You don't need to know all the combos and wacky secret moves or powerups or whatever. I played some Elden Ring and Harry Potter and it's pretty much the same in that you don't need to be great at games to move forward, even without cranking difficulty down from default.

Half Life 2 spoiled me for video games. It was such a great story that the gameplay was kinda secondary. Lots of innovative stuff but still a straightforward shooter. I was great at those. The CoD Modern Warfare games and Far Crys were pretty much the same. Engaging stories and a game I could play.

NHL games, too. Simple D-pad and 4 buttons got it done up through like 2005. Now there's a D-Pad, 2 sticks, 8 buttons, 4 triggers or some shit. Can't work the damn things and never had a console to force me. So modern games have largely passed me by save for the odd PC exclusive that's rarer and rarer all the time.

Not even 50 and already feeling old... :skull:
 
usiel said:
Even PF has some time sensitive quests and its not open world so for sure would be good to know which ones especially after a few run throughs.
Click to expand...
Oh for stuff like that guides (or the internet) still have a purpose but with the Witcher I really feel like you can just embrace that world in the ways that suit you and miss on literally nothing. Like, okay, you probably want to collect the armors of the various disciplines but for the most part you'll find half of that anyway, and it's designed in a way that leaves you so incredibly open.

I just don't think there is A way to play that game. Guide is probably useful in parts but not what you're after.

Jags said:
I'm totally this way now. Any game that's solo or even an online game with limited content -- all I really want to do is play through the story. I enjoy the gameplay, but anything that requires a modern controller that's clumsy to play on PC without it, I'm out.

And weirdly it's almost like games are designed for that now. All of the Batman games since the first Arkham one you can pretty much win by mashing buttons. You don't need to know all the combos and wacky secret moves or powerups or whatever. I played some Elden Ring and Harry Potter and it's pretty much the same in that you don't need to be great at games to move forward, even without cranking difficulty down from default.

Half Life 2 spoiled me for video games. It was such a great story that the gameplay was kinda secondary. Lots of innovative stuff but still a straightforward shooter. I was great at those. The CoD Modern Warfare games and Far Crys were pretty much the same. Engaging stories and a game I could play.

NHL games, too. Simple D-pad and 4 buttons got it done up through like 2005. Now there's a D-Pad, 2 sticks, 8 buttons, 4 triggers or some shit. Can't work the damn things and never had a console to force me. So modern games have largely passed me by save for the odd PC exclusive that's rarer and rarer all the time.

Not even 50 and already feeling old... :skull:
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Bruh, don't you dare disrespect the Batman game because there's doing it, and then there's doing it like a Batman. If you aren't using tools in your takedowns you're playing the game but you aren't experiencing it at all, and a lot of those elites require you to think at least a little.
 
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I played Elden Ring and used a few hints here and there but there is immense satisfaction figuring things out and beating enemies without spoilers. Post-game I certainly looked up some secrets I would have otherwise missed because I’m a completionist.

I’m playing through Tears of the Kingdom now and I am going to complete as much as I can without help. Certainly the story and most of the side quests. But I am bound to miss a lot of things without looking it up and I want to do those things, so why not look at a guide?
 
HTFN said:
Oh for stuff like that guides (or the internet) still have a purpose but with the Witcher I really feel like you can just embrace that world in the ways that suit you and miss on literally nothing. Like, okay, you probably want to collect the armors of the various disciplines but for the most part you'll find half of that anyway, and it's designed in a way that leaves you so incredibly open.
Click to expand...

Agreed. And a game like Skyrim doesn't have much in the way of those triggered events. 95% of the time you're completely free to do whatever you want, in any order when it comes to story. And the design of that game really lent itself to several playthroughs so you can try different races and power combos. If you're going to play more than once, why spend time fussing over whether you've seen and done it all? There's a ridiculous amount of content so you can probably play a few times and have very different experiences with each character.

But it's video games, so definitely do your own thing. I personally like the discovery aspect. I like coming back and playing a game for the 5th time after a few years and finding something new, y'know?

As for Batman... Look, I'm not terrible with the controller. I figure things out if the game is good enough to keep me invested. Some of the bosses are tricky, but the environment battles in all those games are crazy easy. They really do seem to mostly want you to enjoy the story without too much frustration. And my old fingers appreciate that. ;)
 
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Jags said:
Agreed. And a game like Skyrim doesn't have much in the way of those triggered events. 95% of the time you're completely free to do whatever you want, in any order when it comes to story. And the design of that game really lent itself to several playthroughs so you can try different races and power combos. If you're going to play more than once, why spend time fussing over whether you've seen and done it all? There's a ridiculous amount of content so you can probably play a few times and have very different experiences with each character.

But it's video games, so definitely do your own thing. I personally like the discovery aspect. I like coming back and playing a game for the 5th time after a few years and finding something new, y'know?

As for Batman... Look, I'm not terrible with the controller. I figure things out if the game is good enough to keep me invested. Some of the bosses are tricky, but the environment battles in all those games are crazy easy. They really do seem to mostly want you to enjoy the story without too much frustration. And my old fingers appreciate that. ;)
Click to expand...
They're not tough from a Ds/Elden Scroll perspective but you're Batman. You're not struggling with your average butthole because you've got all the tools in the world. If you want to beatdown combo every thug in the game that's fair but the game becomes more fun and complicated when you play it like Batman, and I'd say they got the balance for that pretty okay.

If you want to be the Batman that knows all the martial arts you can absolutely blast half the guys in the game, but if you play it like somebody who remembers they have other tools in the belt it becomes so significantly more fun.

I put in on the stage of Assassin's Creed 1-3. Ultimately swordplay was overpowered and you could square with like 7 guys with swords and just counter strike/kill until the numbers were in your favor, but that's not what they wanted you to do. Batman can 100% hold his own if you counter strike in big groups and play it safe but he's not about that, so you find more value by playing different.
 
twabby said:
I played Elden Ring and used a few hints here and there but there is immense satisfaction figuring things out and beating enemies without spoilers. Post-game I certainly looked up some secrets I would have otherwise missed because I’m a completionist.

I’m playing through Tears of the Kingdom now and I am going to complete as much as I can without help. Certainly the story and most of the side quests. But I am bound to miss a lot of things without looking it up and I want to do those things, so why not look at a guide?
Click to expand...
Having played at a high level PvP when true twitch shooters were abound just can't get tuned up for arcade like boss fights. Not saying that is not right to enjoy just explaining my complete indifference to the soul's style NPC boss combat, heh.
 
sycamore said:
Do you guys think its worth getting one of these official written guides for Elden Ring?
I know that the guide to Skyrim made the game about a 100x times better, because you
can complete every quest, find every dungeon, and most importantly, find all the best weapons
and armor in the game.
OTOH, games like AC Valhalla you can pretty much uncover everything on your own (that's actually one of the joys of that game).
So is it worth getting a guide for Elden Ring? And if so, which one?
Click to expand...
One advantage of a paper guide is it will be written in English.

There were times when I did research on Elden or Pathfinder and I found good resources, but they were written in a way that assumed the reader was a community member who undestood all the internet shorthand that grew around the games. So I had to translate the answers before fully understanding them.
 
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Yeah I'm not spending 45 bucks on a printed guide without giving the game a trial run first. See if I can get through it relatively smoothly, if I find the world enchanting etc... I don't have fond memories of Dark Souls games, particularly Bloodborne and its lack of a save feature. That game really drove me nuts.
 
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Hivemind said:
VERY IMPORTANT DIABLO IV UPDATE

When you see a stray dog in one of the cities, use the emote "Hello" to pet the dog.

10/10 game, would play again, lets me pet doggo
Click to expand...
Dog based conscious moments are always the best. Good boy, good Diablo.
 
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