At this point, I’ve been playing Elden Ring for around a hundred hours. I’ve beaten the first boss, Margit. And the second boss, Rannela, with her weird egg. And now, I’ve also gone and done a beating [on] Radahn.
I found that the area after Stormveil Castle. The Academy of Raya Lucaria was particularly difficult. I ended up having to farm runes. I did this several times before I was levelled up enough to get through the Academy and those sorcerers.
After the Academy, Caria Manor was relatively easy, and then going into Caelid was scary, but doable.
He was the hardest boss I’ve faced so far. I’m not certain how many times I fought him. I kept jumping off my horse, Torrent. It wasn’t too hard to get the strategy down for fighting him.
The strategy is simple, but the execution is hard. The strategy (at least for me) is to grab all of the NPCs available, and then shoot Radahn with either Loretta’s Great bow or Rock Sling. Keep riding around and keep grabbing the NPCs as they become available. Stay out of his range, run if needed, and shoot at him every chance you get. It was using this method, and by being very careful, that I was finally able to beat him. Every time I got close to him, he would kill me. Using this method, I was able to beat him. If I can beat him, anyone can beat him. It really takes patience and willingness to change your attack method as you figure out what works.
When I finally beat him, it was a surprise. I wasn’t expecting it would happen.
Going into the depths and getting the mimic wasn’t very difficult. This game is weird because sometimes things will be so hard, that I have to find another way, or look up a strategy, but then, other things will be surprisingly easy, and I’ll get through it without a problem. It’s this weird balancing act where sometimes I’m so frustrated at how hard it is, and then I feel awesome because of how good I am.
At this point, I’m in Volcano Manor, but I’m pretty sure I’m not supposed to finish it. I also need to go to the Shaded Castle. And then, I suppose it’s up to the Capital. That’s after the Lake of Rot, once I find that Mushroom outfit, of course.
Right now, I am around a level 40. I wanted to discuss a couple of things that happened between the Castle Morne experience and Stormveil Castle, but I feel like Stormveil ends up coloring everything else. I’ll try to go through everything.
First of all, I still get annoyed every time I think about going all the way through the Castle Morne quest, talking to Irina, delivering the letter to her father, and then she dies anyway? What kind of game is this, what kind of world is this, what is going on?
What is the Story of Elden Ring
Actually, to bring up another point. What is the Lands-Between? Is it Limbo? Are all the player characters dead, but have yet to be judged? Is that why religion plays such a large role in the game? The “lands between” is just such an interesting name. The fact that we are playing as a “tarnished.” What does tarnished mean, how did we get to be tarnished, what tarnished us? I know that all the big bosses are demi-gods. But why were they dead, and why do they now need to be killed?
What is the Lands-Between
Also, what are we doing for the world of the lands between? I’m hoping that these questions will be answered in gameplay. That the story will lay itself out for me to understand. Because right now, I feel like I could make up my own backstory for my character, how they came to be in this limbo, how they died why the lands between is in the state it’s in, and my own story would be just as valid as anyone else’s. However, I’ve heard that the story for the game is in the item descriptions?
So I may check out all the items I have and see what they have to say, what can I piece together. It is kind of intriguing to me to be placed in a game where the only bit of story that’s actually told is the very beginning. And I find it even more fascinating that a world-famous writer collaborated on this game, and there doesn’t really seem to be a scrap of actual story that I can find, so far. I wonder how may GRRM fans picked up the game, expecting political intrigue and to be told a story of a family or anything similar to his work, and then were disappointed when the game made them work for the story.
Stormveil Castle
Okay, I’m going to stop discussing my strange ruminations now. Onto Stormveil Castle.
I surprised myself by being able to beat Margit in one go. I didn’t expect to beat him on the first try and was shocked when it happened.
So when I went into Stormveil Castle, I thought that I was good. I figured I was going to be able to meet every challenge in the Castle, and it would be no problem.
Issues in Stormveil Castle
My first major issue was knight that is inside a door that gets shut behind you when you go in. It took me several tries to beat him. Then, after him, I missed a site of grace, so when I inevitably died, I was back at the outside of the castle again.
Then, the birds. The birds with the exploding barrels. I died to them so many times that my son started making fun of the sound of my character when she’s dying. But I kept on pushing. When I finally made it to the courtyard, I was able to sneak up the stairs and I didn’t have a huge problem with an area that was I really worried about going to.
The next thing that I didn’t realize I needed to be concerned about is the pots. I didn’t know how tough the big pots are when they start spinning. I didn’t die to any of them, but they were harder than I thought they would be to kill.
Another section I went to was the under-part of the castle. I was able to kill the rats just fine, but there was this weird like serpent dragon thing that I died to like three times before I just ran past, and I was able to touch the bloodstain to move Rogier’s questline forward and just leave the area.
I did also kill a giant like a bunch. He was a lot easier to kill than I expected so I did it a bunch.
Beating Godrick the Grafted in Stormveil Castle
When I got to Godrick the Grafted, I did use the warrior princess lady for help, along with my own summon. I was able to beat him after three tries. The first try I got pretty close, the second one he killed me right away, and then the third one I beat him.
At this point, I haven’t played in a couple of days. But the thing is, I looked up where I’m supposed to take Godrick’s great rune, and I have to go back through Stormviel Castle, and I’m just dreading some of those areas. I’ll probably try it out this weekend.
Final Thoughts
I feel like I’m getting better at some things, but I do want to learn more faith magics. One other thing is that I need to find an outfit that will allow me to stand out in battle, because I will get confused as to who I am when I’m fighting.
I am currently sitting around level 34 or so. After I spoke with Kenneth Haight, I decided to go ahead and check out this Fort he needed to be cleared out. I struggled with that a bit, but I was able to get Fort Haight cleared, and I got half of a disc thing.
I then decided to travel down the Weeping Peninsula. I wasn’t ready to take on Stormveil Castle yet.
I enjoyed the area. First, I fought a demi-human in some ruins and got her staff. Then, I went up a tower or two. After that, I was able to finish out a catacomb and fight the boss. This area helped me feel like I was getting the game, I was doing better, I was handling the enemies. Feeling like things were going well.
Meeting Irina near Castle Morne in Elden Ring
As I got closer to Castle Morne, I met a girl with a blindfold on, her name was Irina. She asked me if I’d deliver a letter to her father. I agreed. I hoped that her father would come to her quickly.
When I first entered the Castle, I came across a gigantic pile of burned bodies, with a bunch of feathered demi-humans dancing on their corpses. The demi-humans were not difficult to fight, thanks to the wolf summons that I’ve been using. I was able to kill them after a few tries.
Inside Castle Morne in Elden Ring
After I went up a ladder, things got more difficult. There were some of the demi-humans flying, and I wasn’t sure how to do a jump attack. I just had to make due. I was able to fight my way through. Once, at the top, I found Irina’s father. But, then I remembered that I needed to fight the boss before delivering the letter.
I was very nervous about the boss, because I’d heard that they are the “first real boss” but then other people say it’s not the first real boss. So I wasn’t sure exactly what the difficulty level was going to be. I did summon, and it took two tries, but I got it done. I was very proud of myself. But then, when I went to go back through Castle Morne in Elden Ring to give the note to Irina’s dad, I died like four or five more times, so I guess it all worked out.
Fighting the Boss of Castle Morne
The boss for the area moved strangely, and I think that the best way to go is to be aggressive. I’m finding that that is the way to win fights, to be aggressive, don’t hang back, get in there and swing. I’m sure it’s not going to work with everything, and I’m still figuring out how to get away, but it’s working better than hanging back.
What’s Next
Right now, I need to work on figuring out if blocking is even for me, or if I just need to get better at rolling, and I need to get better at knowing when to use my Ash of War, my heavy attack, my light attack, or my spells.
So that was my adventure working my way through Castle Morne in Elden Ring, I’ll update to discuss Stormveil Castle, but it may be more than one post because it’s a big area, and I’m worried about getting through it in one piece.
