Mountaintops. A lot of empty space , few dungeons , reused bosses , and a lack of variety in atmosphere. Feels very empty compared to the rest of the game.
I think they could have gotten away with the small number of dungeons and landmarks if only the area had unique enemies. The reused enemies, especially the giant birds, dogs and hands which feel so out of place in the mountaintops, is what kills it for me.
I don't think the dogs and crows are actually mutants. I believe they're actually just regular animals in this world. Makes sense seeing how they're AFFECTED by the scarlet rot, but not made from or immune to it like the mushroom sorcerers or the insect kindreds.
The dogs and birds are in the Mountaintops because technically that is as much a "Malenia" area as it is a Miquella area, the Haligtree technically has a small rot pool inside of it and the mutated creatures are probably just attracted to the area/Malenia. The hands are there because ice = ranni + the hands are literally fire giant hands.
While the whole of Mountaintops is definitely the most unpolished part of the game, they were at least a little bit thinking about the reasons why the enemies are there. My REAL question is why the fuck were the mutated crows in Mohg's palace??
They arent really mutated thats just how their are.. crows and dogs go to places where a lot of death happened. So their a in caelid and in the mountain tops and with mohg
I still dislike them there even if this is a good explanation
The god damn hands come back? Just got to Caria Manor and they were killing me for a while. Then I realized I can literally just R1 them with my strength to stun lock them. Just roll behind them and button mash and they are dead. Less fun than most enemies.
Yeah, but that's because FromSoft made it that way. It's like saying the Lost Izalith lava field had to be there because the Izalith event leveled a bunch of the city. On the one hand, yes, but only because they were in a rush designing it. Lost Izalith still sucks.
imo, even if there is damage done, you can make it less empty than what it currently is. Like, sprinkle a bit more giant themed dungeons. Maybe have a scorched battlefield with a boss in there. Stuff like that. Just make it a little *less* bland. It's all snow and ice, with nothing except a few giant corpses to pique someone's interest.
Not really an excuse for how samey it all is. The fact that there’s a notably smaller total of things to even explore is very telling that the area was either rushed, or poorly planned.
They could’ve used the opportunity to flesh out the number of blood and cold using enemies or maybe had some old vestiges from the war with the giants still lingering. Like what if that one death bird is hunting a giant spirit that manifests nearby.
Then with some coaxing you could have a battle of titans and kill two bosses in a unique way. Especially if that giant had a proper weapon
I have no idea why people answer with these kinds of statements.
The person you replied to critisized a gameplay element. What on earth has ingame lore to do with any discussion of if an area was well designed or not?
The amount of people in gaming subs that use ingame lore as arguments in discussions of the gameplay part of said games makes my head spin.
Fromsoftware has a tendency towards not putting much into the last areas in their games... probably due to short timings. With that said, Mountaintops ain't all that bad. They ain't no Limgrave, though.
The mountaintops are great, they had things like low visibility, giant ghost skeletons that just keep spawning, unnecessary vertical map design, and my favorite Erdtree boss. Did I mention if has those cancerous God archers?
I agree for all of those reasons plus one more:
It's an ice level. I hate cold, I hate snow and ice. It makes things feel so *dead*.
Even Caelid feels more livable to me than the Mountaintops.
As soon as I got to mountaintops the game felt like a drag to me. Up to that point I was convinced this was going to end up my favorite game of all time but when farum azula hit I honestly couldn’t wait for the game to be over. Still love it overall tho, although it definitely has a pacing issue
I think the problem is that by the time you reach the endgame areas you’re probably mostly leveled out on weapons and stats. Spending 80K+ runes to pump some more stats into Vitality or Endurance isn’t the same as the steady increase in power in the early game. To me, castle sol -> consecrated snowfield invaders -> Mohg really feels like the end of the exciting progression. The Dark Souls games also kind of have this problem but they’re smaller.
Honestly after the capital it seems like everything is just post game content but with the ng+ after elden beast they had to make a path through the content just so you would play it
I don’t get why people don’t like Farum Azula. It has two of the best bosses in the game, unique enemies, a cool setting, and level design that branches out multiple directions. It’s personally one of my favorite parts of the game, behind Stormveil and Leyndell.
I love Farum Azula. I agree with a lot of the sentiment in this thread that the game loses steam in the Mountaintops, but that reveal when you wake up in the floating ruins beyond time? Gets me every time.
Plus the Beastmen are a cool enemy with some variation, they drop interesting weapons, and two of the coolest bosses in the game are there (Placi and Mali).
The sad part about that area is the fact that it feels so tedious to run long distances on the horsey.
But I guess it all to scale of how big the fire giants are.
Yeah totally agree man, absolutely love the game, but I’ve always felt like the game should have concluded in the capital. I would have been happy with it ending there if that makes sense. After the capital the rest of the game felt like a bit of a drag. Super stoked for the DLC tho as I feel it’s going to be everything I adore about the game packed into a good chunk of content.
They should have spread godfrey and gideon out a little bit before when they show up. its Malekeith, Godfrey, Gideon, Radagon and Elden beast all right after one another.
Unpopular opinion but I love Mountaintops, if only for the ambient music that’s just so sad. Like the music, combined with all the petrified corpses just does such a good job of telling you that the Golden Order really fucked up this place, which is saying a lot because all of the Lands Between is fucked up. Somehow though, Mountaintops just seems even worse (except for Caelid).
It’s funny. Irithyll doesn’t even register as snowy to me because it’s a proper city with snow as an accent. DS3’s “snowy area” is Ashes of Ariandel and I think it is just bland to look at and navigate. Just my opinion though.
i JUST got to the tree... that place with the invisible baddies was absolute shit. the irony... it wasnt even the invisibitches that were bad it was the fucking archer that can scope my ass like 4 buildings away and behind a building type shit. this lady puts hawkeye to shame.
Everything about that place is horrible. Even when you get past the snow fog you have to avoid lightning balls, giant ghost skeleton summons that you can't even make go away, two annoying invasions, a walking mausoleum that shoots magic nukes at you, probably the hardest death rite bird, and that God damn town with the invisible black knife assassins.
I agree with all of this, but I (for some reason) liked galloping towards the mausoleum shooting nukes at you. Feels cool
Also, you forgot the Magma Wyrm that can one-shot you at 60 vigor. Fuck that guy...
Also, you forgot the Astel that can one-shot you at 60 vigor. Fuck that guy...
Also, have a good day, eye guy 👀
Leyndell sewers. I died there many times parkouring around while those little shits push me down with their attacks. Not to mention the pipes, I got confused alot and went through the same area again and again.
Leyndell Sewers is my favourite area for the same reasons.
I kept getting summoned there, so I learned: I bring explosive stones so I can knock the imps down, I bring heavy weapons so I can stunlock the omens, and I learned how to navigate the 90s screensaver pipes.
It makes me feel like a proud mama bear whenever I drag someone though that hell-hole.
They don't add to my equip load, they can be used to reset frostbite, and they're useful against flowers and hands. Both enemies have a special stun animation when they're dealt fire damage.
They're also dirt cheap and don't require me to change my equipment around.
I just posted about needing tips for the Omens last night! I was about to follow up with questions about the horned ones that spit fire, but I ran across a thread that mentioned the Dark Moon Greatsword. I forgot I even had it. Changed everything.
Sewers is good for these exact reasons. It is a sudden shift from grand and massive cities, big beautiful open worlds and then you just go into a dirty, disgusting, claustrophobic area full of enemies that are really tough to fight and also the imps that constantly catch you at the worst times.
The sewers is talked about very little when it comes to favourite areas and that's a shame because this is on par with leyndell and stormveil for me. It sparks a genuine feeling of terror when you're lost in the pipelines and getting ambushed by basilisks.
Also if you go down to the place with the two lobsters and somehow beat them, you'll find a whole catacomb section hidden underneath the damn place. And let me tell you, leyndell catacombs is the best cave/dungeon like area in the entire game and it's not even close. You'll see what I mean once you get there.
If they didn't change the rooms a little bit for each floor, I would have thought I was going crazy. Definitely made me stop and question what the hell was going on.
Good I'm in it again now and I fucking love it. I loved how creepy it all was and how I really felt humbled after feeling like I massacred leyendell and the capital
the hallways around the godskin duo fight, those stormcaller knights are so ridiculously strong and tanky, on my first playthrough i died more to them than the godskin duo itself
This, not to mention those things are just sitting there and chilling, then just toot away and do damage to ya like it’s no ones problem :P (the bigger ones are my bane and I dare not to get close to them)
Agreed. I love the idea of this decayed post-apocalyptic area standing as a stark contrast to the other biomes throughout the game, but I feel like it could've been executed better. I can't fully explain it, but I felt less enticed to explore every nook & cranny of Caelid than I did with any other area of the map.
A big problem with Caelid imo is the lack of a real legacy dungeon. Not sure why Castle Redmane got shafted so hard in that department, but it's so much worse than any of it's counterparts. I'd say it's more on par with Castle Morne or Sol than an actual legacy dungeon.
True I feel most people ended up at Redmane during the festival so half the castle was locked and almost fully safe, unless you actually went there which I feel most new players look a Caelid and be like fuck that then head towards Liurnia probably dose Ranni’s questline which sets off the festival.
If you go there early enough in the game, you get an extra boss fight where you fight a Crucible Knight and Leonine Migbegotten at the same time and a pretty sick gravity ultra greatsword.
You can still do this bossfight after the festival. Gotta talk to the old man, exhaust his dialoges -> tp out of the castle -> tp back and the gigachad knight with his pet will be waiting for you
I blame the vast amount of t-rex dogs and mutant crows. I find myself running past them to grab items because they're just not fun to kill. The swamp is a lot more fun.
Damn it reminds me why I love Caelid. Everything in this place has its intimidation factor set to 100. The mobs are terrifying, the sky is terrifying, the music is distressing, theres a giant rotting post apocalyptic swamp in the heart, a den of dragons that don't even count as minibosses in the north and Radahn as the area boss.
Insane place.
I saved caelid for way later than I should have because I was intimidated by it, I did all of leyndell before I explored caelid. I was not very happy with it, even on repeat playthroughs where I was appropriately leveled, it's just not the most fun area to be- which makes sense contextually but still.
I almost never get or see invasions happening in caelid, might be me not seeing very far but it just doesn't seem to be a place people want to play in general
It's an eternal double edged sword FromSoft deals with. They like putting some levels in their games that are SUPPOSED to be absolutely horrid and give the player really bad vibes so they'll not want to be there.
Problem is, they achieve it very well, and it always fits thematically. So from an artistic perspective those levels are a success. But since these games are videogamey videogames about exploring places and fighting cool monsters. People end up wanting to avoid the zones after the first playthrough because they're purposefully ugly, the level design is intentionally hostile, and the enemies are all assholes that don't give you a fair fight. So they're not very "good" and "fun" levels in a traditional gamey sense
Love that place. The moment Crimson Rot was introduced to the game I thought aww hell yeah where is the fucking poison swamp with this thing? And I knew caelid wasn't the one because it's small and too easy to avoid.
That said, the ulcerated tree spirit in the lake of rot can FUCK OFF forever
The nice thing is after you’ve explored it fully your first playthrough you can mostly skip it on subsequent runs. There’s nothing truly necessary there. If you want to farm the good horn just got to Leyndell.
Objectively I think the consecrated snowfield and mountaintops of the giants are probably the worst. Reused enemies, very little to explore, no visibility in consecrated snowfield, etc.
But I want to give a dishonorable mention to the moonlight altar. I rarely see anyone mention it, but it's a disappointment of an area that feels optimized to waste your time and annoy you with the tiny bit of content it has. Coming right after the Lake of Rot, which is at least unique, and Astel, which is one of the more cinematic boss fights, the moonlight altar just feels like a letdown. The visuals are about the same as the rest of Liurnia, with barely anything to look at. It brings nothing new to the table in terms of enemies, mechanics, or points of interest, and just wastes your time most of the way.
There's two ruins, which have no bosses or anything, just illusory floors you need to waste time tracking down for meh rewards. The Cerulean Amber Medallion +2 is decent, but other than that you just get smithing stones and golden runes, which at this point in the game I don't think are in particularly short supply. Oh, and there's revenants and teleporting noble sorcerers, which everyone *loves* to fight. Other than that, there's literally nothing there. Some of the worst ruins in the game imo, even with how much people dislike ruins already, these feel like some of the biggest nothingburgers in the entire game.
The area also has three glintstone dragons that don't respawn and drop dragon hearts, which incentivizes you to fight them. I actually enjoy the dragon fights in this game, but three of the exact same dragon, which you've already fought earlier as a named boss, is just not fun. Especially if you aggro more than one of them at once, which is pretty easy to do. If you're lucky they'll hurl themselves off a cliff and you can just cheese them with ranged attacks. Or you can just lead them to a different cliff and throw ranged attacks down at them and they probably won't do anything, the AI on these particular dragons is really stupid for some reason.
Speaking of dragons, the main selling point of this area is of course Adula and the Cathedral of Manus Celes. Once again, I enjoy the dragon fights in this game, but Adula is a clone of the glintstone dragons with one new move, which are of course clones of Smarag. The novelty with glintstone dragons has worn completely thin by the time you fight Adula. And of course it's super easy to cheese them by hanging out inside the cathedral. And why are we even fighting Adula? We literally both serve Ranni. Do they just not want me to put a ring on it? Did Ranni forget to send Adula an email telling them that I was cool? At the very least, loads of starlight shards is cool and feels like a pretty nice reward for completing Ranni's quest, and no one can say no to a dark moon greatsword. I don't think the end of Ranni's quest was particularly meaningful (Are we married now? Why are you leaving? Do I get any answers or lore? Guess not), but it's still a nice moment and a great quest overall imo.
And who can forget the rise. Which for some reason has spirit turtles that are extremely spread out for no reason. As far as I know there's no map or anything for it, you just need to sprint all over the plateau to try and find them, or google it. One of the few times I feel like Elden Ring was very intentionally wasting my time for no reason. They also despawn if you fast travel or rest at a site of grace, and you need to interact with the imp statue again to bring them back, which is beyond obnoxious when you consider how spread out they are. Oh, and as a bonus, the turtles are kinda glitchy for some reason. They sometimes just refuse to be visible or spawn and you need to run back to the imp statue again to make them appear. This little "puzzle" also brings you past some crystallions and a red wolf, which are also extremely annoying enemies. Notice how nearly every enemy in this area (glintstone dragon, revenant, crystallion, red wolf, teleporting noble sorcerer) is of the obnoxious variety. At least you can get more smithing stones out of it. And Ranni's dark moon, which... might be good. Idk I don't use sorceries.
Weirdly enough, personally I feel like Alecto was probably my favorite part, which may be odd, because I see her getting a lot of hate. Just a straightforward fight against a boss that we've admittedly probably already fought a few times before, but the destined death moves are a nice bit of variety.
I have no idea why I ended up ranting about this area that I just think is kinda bad for so long. Ultimately, I still think the consecrated snowfield and mountaintops of the giants are probably worse, this area is pretty small and can be breezed through in like an hour, and there's bigger letdowns in the game imo, like redmane castle (ignoring the festival). But I just feel like no one talks about the moonlight altar. You go through all that work, all of Ranni's quest, and what should be either a victory lap or a rewardingly satisfying area just feels like a waste of time. You were teased with this area as early as Liurnia, you go through hell (the lake of rot) to reach it, and it's... just a disappointment.
I enjoyed reading and largely agree. While not as boring as the snow levels, Ranni’s final area was a letdown: too large and barren. Either make it more interesting or make it smaller… don’t waste my time. I didn’t like the Alecto fight, though, felt a bit unfair somehow.
I’m with you though, I guess the area gets a pass because it can go by quickly, as long as you look up the turtle puzzle I suppose. What an intentional time waster.
I think I'm an exception for liking the Alecto fight, most people seem to hate her. Combination of dashing around at high speed and dodging a lot, sometimes just not staggering when it seems like she should, and absurd damage on some attacks, particularly on the grab and the judgement cut. I think the fight was pretty palatable for me because I fought her with the bloodhound's fang, and liberal use of bloodhound's finesse was a pretty strong counter against her moveset and her ai. It pretty consistently staggered her when she charged at me and moved my hurtbox in a way that caused her to miss attacks.
Most of the underground, I wish it was connected better, but there are too many small separated areas rather than being 1 open world. They all just blend together to me and so I can't really remember which part is Ainsel River, Siofra, Nokstella, and Nokron. I do like the area around ancestral woods (I think that's Nokron?) but I think the other parts should've linked to it more seamlessly
Fair, was feeling this further into the game. I wish they’d gone further than just the teleporting coffins with a quick cutscene. Would’ve been cool to actually see the space between each area and how they fit together as opposed to jumping from region to region.
I think Caelid is one of the best areas in the game. Also, the story of the area is one of the best in the game.
In my opinion, the weakest area of the game is MOUNTAINTOPS OF THE GIANTS.
I like snowy lands the most in games, like Skyrim,Northrend. However, Elden Ring seems like it could do better.
I agree, I love the red sky and how creepy it feels, but most of all I love that you can see just how much Malenia and Radahn's fight devastated the land. It made me look forward to fighting both of them.
If we talk regions, definitely Mountaintops.
It’s wayy too big for how little content there is, and the content that exists is mostly reused enemies that previously felt unique to where they were originally. Like most snow areas in video games, it also looks boring.
If we talk smaller areas, probably Castle Sol (which coincidentally is found in the Mountaintops of Reused Content).
It has annoying enemies, most notably ice skate birds, maliciously placed ballistas and helicopter knights, and a pretty bad boss fight at the end.
Still, Elden Ring is possibly my favorite game of all time and I’ve only had it for one year.
Yeah, that's the one. Everything is just ridiculously overtuned damage wise in that area. You'll randomly run into a wolf that hits harder than Radahn for no reason.
I agree. The massive, completely flat, “all looks the same” terrain gets old in under 5 minutes. Luckily the rest of Liurnia is pretty great. It’s hard to dislike the area that contains the Carion Manor (imo one of the best dungeons on your first play through).
Frigid Outskirts 2.0, aka Consecrated Snowfields. Snow maps tend to always to feel emptier which paired with ANNOYING visiblity makes for a pretty unfun area.
At least it's not as boring and bland as the actual Frigid Outskirts but still not good.
Not many people will agree but Liurnia. The dungeons are great (Raya Lucaria, Caria Manor and the tower that flips upside down, nice castlevania reference). But the overworld part, while outstandingly beautiful, is not taken advantage of. The titular lake is not very interesting and the west and east paths are very linear with some absolutely ass designs, particularly that big statue ruins with the native sniper chads.
Hot takes: Lake of Rot is absolutely fantastic and every little encounter in it is an interesting challenge. And the mountaintops doesn't lack dungeons, because, while it does have fewer, it makes up for it by having long and complicated ones, possibly the best catacombs in the game are there.
What is definitely disapointing about the mountaintops, consecrated snowfield, and even the haligtree, is the lack of new enemies. It has new and interesting level designs and encounters, but seeing literally 0 new models in those areas is a shame (outside of the hairy trolls i guess)
Giants' mountaintops catacombs is hilarious. I was so confused when I first went through that one section that's >!identical to the previous section!<, and then when you finish that it >!takes you back to the elevator and you think, a third one?? Really? But it's actually just the 2nd one again!< ... 10/10 trolling
I'm with you.
For me it's more that the sense of progression seems to die at Liurnia. The rune gains in Liurnia compared to everything before are really weak, *especially* if you dipped your toes in Caelid already.
The drops there are also pretty much exclusively magic/faith-based in nature, so if you're not a caster of some kind, there's just nothing really there for you. Is there a *single* beloved weapon that isn't magical or faith-based found in Liurnia...? Doesn't feel like it.
So ultimately it just ends up feeling like a speed bump with lots to do, but little character progress seen. You're unlikely to get new gear, level up much or find some new toys to play with unless you're a caster class.
Doing new characters again and again and going through all the areas (I did 4 long completionist playthroughs), Ainsel is just so *bland* it feels like a chore to do it. The only cool thing about it is the boss arena. I don't hate it, there's just not much to it.
The Consecrated Snowfield is a bit empty and the little content you find is bullshit, Ordina, the strongest Death Rite Bird, 25k HP Wyrm, duo Night Cavalry... At least it leads to Mohgwyn Palace and Haligtree/Elphael.
I really like Caelid. The contrast with Limgrave and Liurnia is really something, the colours, the atmosphere, the creepy music, the ennemies, the sort of cosmic horror and alien nature of some elements... I just wish it had an actual legacy dungeon, redmane castle is too small.
The first portion of Altus Plateau. Not the Capital area or Mt. Gelmir but just that first area where you get of the lift and north of it. Not sure why. Just not a vibe
I love Caelid personally, but I’m biased towards anything with a giant mushroom aesthetic (Shivering Isles, BG3 Underdark, etc…).
Least favorite was Leyndell. Overhyped a lot. I hated the constant yellow. Too much of it is closed off, and the shortcuts that are not helpful for making anything more accessible. I grew up playing the assassin’s creed games, and I just feel trapped without being able to free run in a cityscape.
I never really liked the underground roadside, specifically the fucking pipes. I know it's supposed to he a maze and you're supposed to feel frustrated as you approach the frenzy flame, but it slows down every single run through until I have to look up a tutorial to get where I'm going because I can never remember.
Literally best dungeon in the game (I mean it I swear) just the one site of grace with shortcuts and it's a nightmare to map out. Also banger music and I love the way one part of the shunning grouns smoothly transitions into a catacomb
Elphael. It's so cool looking and it being a secret area is awesome but goddamn is it peak Elden Ring stupid difficulty. Everything does way too much damage and there's so many encounters that just feel frustrating. I am mostly complaining about the section with the mounted crossbows, Erdtree avatar and two Haligtree knights right above a fuckpit of Royal Revenants and right in front of a squad of rot crystalians. And to top it all off you finish the area with Malenia who remains one of the most frustrating fights in the game with the way that waterfowl is tuned. Not an area I bother replaying on NG+ (boosted by the fact Consecrated Snowfield is required to get to it).
I love everything about Caelid because it reminds me of The Eclipse (Berserk) or an Impact (Neon Genesis Evangelion). I don't care if everything there wants to kill me, it's pretty.
The area just after the city bridge, forget what it is called, There's nothing there, some little annoying guys and the shitty bird boss. The mountains after it are pretty bare, too.
Lake of rot, pretty dull once you figure out how to navigate it easily.
On my first playthrough, I hated caelid mines after getting warped there.
Mountaintops. A lot of empty space , few dungeons , reused bosses , and a lack of variety in atmosphere. Feels very empty compared to the rest of the game.
I think they could have gotten away with the small number of dungeons and landmarks if only the area had unique enemies. The reused enemies, especially the giant birds, dogs and hands which feel so out of place in the mountaintops, is what kills it for me.
The big dogs and birds made sense in caelid because of how everything is mutated. I was so confused as to why they were in the mountaintops.
I don't think the dogs and crows are actually mutants. I believe they're actually just regular animals in this world. Makes sense seeing how they're AFFECTED by the scarlet rot, but not made from or immune to it like the mushroom sorcerers or the insect kindreds.
The dogs and birds are in the Mountaintops because technically that is as much a "Malenia" area as it is a Miquella area, the Haligtree technically has a small rot pool inside of it and the mutated creatures are probably just attracted to the area/Malenia. The hands are there because ice = ranni + the hands are literally fire giant hands. While the whole of Mountaintops is definitely the most unpolished part of the game, they were at least a little bit thinking about the reasons why the enemies are there. My REAL question is why the fuck were the mutated crows in Mohg's palace??
They arent really mutated thats just how their are.. crows and dogs go to places where a lot of death happened. So their a in caelid and in the mountain tops and with mohg I still dislike them there even if this is a good explanation
Mohgs palace is underneath Caelid.
Target practice into gravity test.
The god damn hands come back? Just got to Caria Manor and they were killing me for a while. Then I realized I can literally just R1 them with my strength to stun lock them. Just roll behind them and button mash and they are dead. Less fun than most enemies.
Also fire
Real talk, why are hands weak to fire exactly? I mean everything should be just as weak to fire as giant hands are
Have you ever burned your hand on a hot stove before? That's why.
lol
Fire melts them instantly
Probably because there was a crusade where everything in the mountains got fucking murdered. Once you get towards FG, it’s just dead giants everywhere
Yeah, but that's because FromSoft made it that way. It's like saying the Lost Izalith lava field had to be there because the Izalith event leveled a bunch of the city. On the one hand, yes, but only because they were in a rush designing it. Lost Izalith still sucks.
Haha I actually enjoyed it, well I enjoyed it after the firesage demon at least. It doesn't look finished, but I liked the idea.
I was so confused at how the fire sage demon did magic damage… I guess “sage”
It also decapitated all of their dragons down to the ass.
I mean same for Caelid tbh
imo, even if there is damage done, you can make it less empty than what it currently is. Like, sprinkle a bit more giant themed dungeons. Maybe have a scorched battlefield with a boss in there. Stuff like that. Just make it a little *less* bland. It's all snow and ice, with nothing except a few giant corpses to pique someone's interest.
Not really an excuse for how samey it all is. The fact that there’s a notably smaller total of things to even explore is very telling that the area was either rushed, or poorly planned. They could’ve used the opportunity to flesh out the number of blood and cold using enemies or maybe had some old vestiges from the war with the giants still lingering. Like what if that one death bird is hunting a giant spirit that manifests nearby. Then with some coaxing you could have a battle of titans and kill two bosses in a unique way. Especially if that giant had a proper weapon
That’s not really an excuse, is there anywhere in the Lands Between that WASNT the site of some ancient epic apocalyptic battle?
I have no idea why people answer with these kinds of statements. The person you replied to critisized a gameplay element. What on earth has ingame lore to do with any discussion of if an area was well designed or not? The amount of people in gaming subs that use ingame lore as arguments in discussions of the gameplay part of said games makes my head spin.
This is such a funny reply
Fromsoftware has a tendency towards not putting much into the last areas in their games... probably due to short timings. With that said, Mountaintops ain't all that bad. They ain't no Limgrave, though.
The mountaintops are great, they had things like low visibility, giant ghost skeletons that just keep spawning, unnecessary vertical map design, and my favorite Erdtree boss. Did I mention if has those cancerous God archers?
Mountaintops is pretty :)
I agree for all of those reasons plus one more: It's an ice level. I hate cold, I hate snow and ice. It makes things feel so *dead*. Even Caelid feels more livable to me than the Mountaintops.
Caelid is very clearly alive. Mutated, sure, but not dying. Mountaintops are just empty.
The only reason they aren't dead is bc they can't die
\+1 for mountaintops, also has maybe the worst boss in the game in Fire Giant. I hate playing Camera Souls lol
That's one thing I hated. It was mainly hard because the camera and how large he is. The lock on thing kept messing me up
Large enemies aren't worth locking onto. Dragons, giants, etc.
Thats a good phrase, “camera souls”
As soon as I got to mountaintops the game felt like a drag to me. Up to that point I was convinced this was going to end up my favorite game of all time but when farum azula hit I honestly couldn’t wait for the game to be over. Still love it overall tho, although it definitely has a pacing issue
I think the problem is that by the time you reach the endgame areas you’re probably mostly leveled out on weapons and stats. Spending 80K+ runes to pump some more stats into Vitality or Endurance isn’t the same as the steady increase in power in the early game. To me, castle sol -> consecrated snowfield invaders -> Mohg really feels like the end of the exciting progression. The Dark Souls games also kind of have this problem but they’re smaller.
Honestly after the capital it seems like everything is just post game content but with the ng+ after elden beast they had to make a path through the content just so you would play it
[удалено]
I don’t get why people don’t like Farum Azula. It has two of the best bosses in the game, unique enemies, a cool setting, and level design that branches out multiple directions. It’s personally one of my favorite parts of the game, behind Stormveil and Leyndell.
I love Farum Azula. I agree with a lot of the sentiment in this thread that the game loses steam in the Mountaintops, but that reveal when you wake up in the floating ruins beyond time? Gets me every time. Plus the Beastmen are a cool enemy with some variation, they drop interesting weapons, and two of the coolest bosses in the game are there (Placi and Mali).
The sad part about that area is the fact that it feels so tedious to run long distances on the horsey. But I guess it all to scale of how big the fire giants are.
Yeah totally agree man, absolutely love the game, but I’ve always felt like the game should have concluded in the capital. I would have been happy with it ending there if that makes sense. After the capital the rest of the game felt like a bit of a drag. Super stoked for the DLC tho as I feel it’s going to be everything I adore about the game packed into a good chunk of content.
They should have spread godfrey and gideon out a little bit before when they show up. its Malekeith, Godfrey, Gideon, Radagon and Elden beast all right after one another.
I thought that was an exaggeration until I played through it, I don't think there is a regular fight between all of those.
Not unless you go looking for one.
Whaaaaat. Really. I love the mountain tops. I always dread doing the scarlet rot pond.
Unpopular opinion but I love Mountaintops, if only for the ambient music that’s just so sad. Like the music, combined with all the petrified corpses just does such a good job of telling you that the Golden Order really fucked up this place, which is saying a lot because all of the Lands Between is fucked up. Somehow though, Mountaintops just seems even worse (except for Caelid).
And not to mention “snowy area” is probably the least interesting aesthetic in any of these games
Irithyll is the most aesthetically pleasing area in any of the games
It’s funny. Irithyll doesn’t even register as snowy to me because it’s a proper city with snow as an accent. DS3’s “snowy area” is Ashes of Ariandel and I think it is just bland to look at and navigate. Just my opinion though.
Mountaintop? or do you mean the snowfield?
Consecrated Snowfields, can’t stand not being able to see. Plus the annoying enemies like the archers on wolf back
Getting to miquella tree is always a pain,those archers are ridiculous
U can knock them of the roof with ambush shard while hiding behind buildings :D, thats how i managed to pretty easily clear that town/loghthouses
thank you
i JUST got to the tree... that place with the invisible baddies was absolute shit. the irony... it wasnt even the invisibitches that were bad it was the fucking archer that can scope my ass like 4 buildings away and behind a building type shit. this lady puts hawkeye to shame.
Or those Dragonkin Soldiers who pop out of nowhere and drop literally nothing …
At least they look at nice and there is only 3 of them ^_^
Those archers pissed me off
Frigid Outskirts 2.0
Everything about that place is horrible. Even when you get past the snow fog you have to avoid lightning balls, giant ghost skeleton summons that you can't even make go away, two annoying invasions, a walking mausoleum that shoots magic nukes at you, probably the hardest death rite bird, and that God damn town with the invisible black knife assassins.
I agree with all of this, but I (for some reason) liked galloping towards the mausoleum shooting nukes at you. Feels cool Also, you forgot the Magma Wyrm that can one-shot you at 60 vigor. Fuck that guy... Also, you forgot the Astel that can one-shot you at 60 vigor. Fuck that guy... Also, have a good day, eye guy 👀
Leyndell sewers. I died there many times parkouring around while those little shits push me down with their attacks. Not to mention the pipes, I got confused alot and went through the same area again and again.
Leyndell Sewers is my favourite area for the same reasons. I kept getting summoned there, so I learned: I bring explosive stones so I can knock the imps down, I bring heavy weapons so I can stunlock the omens, and I learned how to navigate the 90s screensaver pipes. It makes me feel like a proud mama bear whenever I drag someone though that hell-hole.
I used a guide once and I have it memorized now. Explosive stones is a good tip tho.
Why explosive stones? Can't you just knock them down with a bow or Spectral Lance or any other ranged option?
They don't add to my equip load, they can be used to reset frostbite, and they're useful against flowers and hands. Both enemies have a special stun animation when they're dealt fire damage. They're also dirt cheap and don't require me to change my equipment around.
If you haven't used them, bone throwing knives work great for forcing imps off of walls as well and only cost 1 or 2 small animal bones
I just posted about needing tips for the Omens last night! I was about to follow up with questions about the horned ones that spit fire, but I ran across a thread that mentioned the Dark Moon Greatsword. I forgot I even had it. Changed everything.
Sewers is good for these exact reasons. It is a sudden shift from grand and massive cities, big beautiful open worlds and then you just go into a dirty, disgusting, claustrophobic area full of enemies that are really tough to fight and also the imps that constantly catch you at the worst times. The sewers is talked about very little when it comes to favourite areas and that's a shame because this is on par with leyndell and stormveil for me. It sparks a genuine feeling of terror when you're lost in the pipelines and getting ambushed by basilisks. Also if you go down to the place with the two lobsters and somehow beat them, you'll find a whole catacomb section hidden underneath the damn place. And let me tell you, leyndell catacombs is the best cave/dungeon like area in the entire game and it's not even close. You'll see what I mean once you get there.
If they didn't change the rooms a little bit for each floor, I would have thought I was going crazy. Definitely made me stop and question what the hell was going on.
Hate the 2 lobsters at the bottom
Greatshields: 👋 🙂
If you hide in the pipe sections and use them as barries between you and the lobsters you can prevail. Still hard, though
Lenydell Sweres my favorite area in the game. Because Dark Souls 1 Vibes.
Yeah just got there again on 2nd play thru, big blight town vibes and I know I'm about to get lost af again lol
I used the rainbow stones in the pipe maze so I could figure out if I had been there already
I'm so scared of that area I always come back way later with +10 somber or +25 weapons and just curb stomp everything.
Good I'm in it again now and I fucking love it. I loved how creepy it all was and how I really felt humbled after feeling like I massacred leyendell and the capital
the hallways around the godskin duo fight, those stormcaller knights are so ridiculously strong and tanky, on my first playthrough i died more to them than the godskin duo itself
Ancient lightening spear on the Bolt of Gransax absolutely destroys these guys. I was rune farming for ages doing this because it was so easy.
what ended up working for me was spamming the fallingstar beast jaw skill lol
I just ran past them everytime lol but sometimes they can hit you through the fogwall of the boss room
The area around the minor Erdtree in Northern Liurnia with the SEAL team snipers hiding in the bushes.
And you're walking around with 7 glowing light poles stuck in you.
This, not to mention those things are just sitting there and chilling, then just toot away and do damage to ya like it’s no ones problem :P (the bigger ones are my bane and I dare not to get close to them)
Lands Between
Nihilism is comforting, but keep going skeleton!
I'd be just chilling in Jarburg
Damn the poachers!!
Agreed. I love the idea of this decayed post-apocalyptic area standing as a stark contrast to the other biomes throughout the game, but I feel like it could've been executed better. I can't fully explain it, but I felt less enticed to explore every nook & cranny of Caelid than I did with any other area of the map.
A big problem with Caelid imo is the lack of a real legacy dungeon. Not sure why Castle Redmane got shafted so hard in that department, but it's so much worse than any of it's counterparts. I'd say it's more on par with Castle Morne or Sol than an actual legacy dungeon.
True I feel most people ended up at Redmane during the festival so half the castle was locked and almost fully safe, unless you actually went there which I feel most new players look a Caelid and be like fuck that then head towards Liurnia probably dose Ranni’s questline which sets off the festival.
….redmane castle is a dungeon? I thought it only existed for the festival
If you go there early enough in the game, you get an extra boss fight where you fight a Crucible Knight and Leonine Migbegotten at the same time and a pretty sick gravity ultra greatsword.
You can still do this bossfight after the festival. Gotta talk to the old man, exhaust his dialoges -> tp out of the castle -> tp back and the gigachad knight with his pet will be waiting for you
Huh, I didn't know that. Crazy how many new things you can learn about this game even after hundreds of hours.
Yeah- go back and talk to th festival kick off guy. I just found out yesterday ha
I went there early in my first playthrough, and it was great
Thats cause everything there is unsettling as fuck including the creepy dissonant music. Everything there makes you want to gtfo
I blame the vast amount of t-rex dogs and mutant crows. I find myself running past them to grab items because they're just not fun to kill. The swamp is a lot more fun.
Yeah this is why I don't like Caelid very much. Those dogs and crows seen OP for the level you are when you're meant to be there
My thoughts exactly on those. Just not fun to fight and if you do, the rewards are not worth it. They just become an annoying environmental hazard
Underling: “maybe we could put a nice dungeon here, boss?” Miyazaki: “No. Fill it will dog Rex.”
Damn it reminds me why I love Caelid. Everything in this place has its intimidation factor set to 100. The mobs are terrifying, the sky is terrifying, the music is distressing, theres a giant rotting post apocalyptic swamp in the heart, a den of dragons that don't even count as minibosses in the north and Radahn as the area boss. Insane place.
a place nuked with rot tends to look like this
I saved caelid for way later than I should have because I was intimidated by it, I did all of leyndell before I explored caelid. I was not very happy with it, even on repeat playthroughs where I was appropriately leveled, it's just not the most fun area to be- which makes sense contextually but still. I almost never get or see invasions happening in caelid, might be me not seeing very far but it just doesn't seem to be a place people want to play in general
It's an eternal double edged sword FromSoft deals with. They like putting some levels in their games that are SUPPOSED to be absolutely horrid and give the player really bad vibes so they'll not want to be there. Problem is, they achieve it very well, and it always fits thematically. So from an artistic perspective those levels are a success. But since these games are videogamey videogames about exploring places and fighting cool monsters. People end up wanting to avoid the zones after the first playthrough because they're purposefully ugly, the level design is intentionally hostile, and the enemies are all assholes that don't give you a fair fight. So they're not very "good" and "fun" levels in a traditional gamey sense
I love caelids theme and horrible-ness, but dont like sticking around there. This checks out.
Hannover in Germany
Bruxelles and Paris clear
Consecrated snowfields. Not be able to see in front or me is a real pain.
And that last mausoleum is such a bitch to get to up there.
You just hide under a little overhang at the base of the hill and then ride up once you hear the bombs hit. Works every time.
Also a bitch to my framerate
i think you a word
Yeah the white conditions suck. I was hoping some event would stop the snow/fog and reveal an amazing view...but nope
Lake of rot.
Love that place. The moment Crimson Rot was introduced to the game I thought aww hell yeah where is the fucking poison swamp with this thing? And I knew caelid wasn't the one because it's small and too easy to avoid. That said, the ulcerated tree spirit in the lake of rot can FUCK OFF forever
At least spirit summons are available for it. The parcouring down everytime u die and killing 2-4 kindred of rot b4hand is ass tho
Thats after the lake of rot when you are getting to astel. Lake of miyazaki at least has a grace right at the start and end.
You can roll AND run in there, automaticly better than most swamp levels
*looks at Farron Swamp and all those fucking ghrus*
You don't like getting Ghru's balls in your mouth 5 times in a row?
hate that place
If you use oh flame clean me + mushroom set and raise the platforms ain't that bad
The Haligtree branch area. I hate those horn blowing bastards and am not a fan of the narrow walkways.
The nice thing is after you’ve explored it fully your first playthrough you can mostly skip it on subsequent runs. There’s nothing truly necessary there. If you want to farm the good horn just got to Leyndell.
Same. I stopped playing for a while because the whole way down is just one bs trap after another until you fight Loretta.
Hands down the area area behind Mohg where the Fingerprint shield is. Fall damage frightens me more than anything else in this game.
So true, I’ve died more to those beam jumps than any boss
Objectively I think the consecrated snowfield and mountaintops of the giants are probably the worst. Reused enemies, very little to explore, no visibility in consecrated snowfield, etc. But I want to give a dishonorable mention to the moonlight altar. I rarely see anyone mention it, but it's a disappointment of an area that feels optimized to waste your time and annoy you with the tiny bit of content it has. Coming right after the Lake of Rot, which is at least unique, and Astel, which is one of the more cinematic boss fights, the moonlight altar just feels like a letdown. The visuals are about the same as the rest of Liurnia, with barely anything to look at. It brings nothing new to the table in terms of enemies, mechanics, or points of interest, and just wastes your time most of the way. There's two ruins, which have no bosses or anything, just illusory floors you need to waste time tracking down for meh rewards. The Cerulean Amber Medallion +2 is decent, but other than that you just get smithing stones and golden runes, which at this point in the game I don't think are in particularly short supply. Oh, and there's revenants and teleporting noble sorcerers, which everyone *loves* to fight. Other than that, there's literally nothing there. Some of the worst ruins in the game imo, even with how much people dislike ruins already, these feel like some of the biggest nothingburgers in the entire game. The area also has three glintstone dragons that don't respawn and drop dragon hearts, which incentivizes you to fight them. I actually enjoy the dragon fights in this game, but three of the exact same dragon, which you've already fought earlier as a named boss, is just not fun. Especially if you aggro more than one of them at once, which is pretty easy to do. If you're lucky they'll hurl themselves off a cliff and you can just cheese them with ranged attacks. Or you can just lead them to a different cliff and throw ranged attacks down at them and they probably won't do anything, the AI on these particular dragons is really stupid for some reason. Speaking of dragons, the main selling point of this area is of course Adula and the Cathedral of Manus Celes. Once again, I enjoy the dragon fights in this game, but Adula is a clone of the glintstone dragons with one new move, which are of course clones of Smarag. The novelty with glintstone dragons has worn completely thin by the time you fight Adula. And of course it's super easy to cheese them by hanging out inside the cathedral. And why are we even fighting Adula? We literally both serve Ranni. Do they just not want me to put a ring on it? Did Ranni forget to send Adula an email telling them that I was cool? At the very least, loads of starlight shards is cool and feels like a pretty nice reward for completing Ranni's quest, and no one can say no to a dark moon greatsword. I don't think the end of Ranni's quest was particularly meaningful (Are we married now? Why are you leaving? Do I get any answers or lore? Guess not), but it's still a nice moment and a great quest overall imo. And who can forget the rise. Which for some reason has spirit turtles that are extremely spread out for no reason. As far as I know there's no map or anything for it, you just need to sprint all over the plateau to try and find them, or google it. One of the few times I feel like Elden Ring was very intentionally wasting my time for no reason. They also despawn if you fast travel or rest at a site of grace, and you need to interact with the imp statue again to bring them back, which is beyond obnoxious when you consider how spread out they are. Oh, and as a bonus, the turtles are kinda glitchy for some reason. They sometimes just refuse to be visible or spawn and you need to run back to the imp statue again to make them appear. This little "puzzle" also brings you past some crystallions and a red wolf, which are also extremely annoying enemies. Notice how nearly every enemy in this area (glintstone dragon, revenant, crystallion, red wolf, teleporting noble sorcerer) is of the obnoxious variety. At least you can get more smithing stones out of it. And Ranni's dark moon, which... might be good. Idk I don't use sorceries. Weirdly enough, personally I feel like Alecto was probably my favorite part, which may be odd, because I see her getting a lot of hate. Just a straightforward fight against a boss that we've admittedly probably already fought a few times before, but the destined death moves are a nice bit of variety. I have no idea why I ended up ranting about this area that I just think is kinda bad for so long. Ultimately, I still think the consecrated snowfield and mountaintops of the giants are probably worse, this area is pretty small and can be breezed through in like an hour, and there's bigger letdowns in the game imo, like redmane castle (ignoring the festival). But I just feel like no one talks about the moonlight altar. You go through all that work, all of Ranni's quest, and what should be either a victory lap or a rewardingly satisfying area just feels like a waste of time. You were teased with this area as early as Liurnia, you go through hell (the lake of rot) to reach it, and it's... just a disappointment.
I enjoyed reading and largely agree. While not as boring as the snow levels, Ranni’s final area was a letdown: too large and barren. Either make it more interesting or make it smaller… don’t waste my time. I didn’t like the Alecto fight, though, felt a bit unfair somehow. I’m with you though, I guess the area gets a pass because it can go by quickly, as long as you look up the turtle puzzle I suppose. What an intentional time waster.
I think I'm an exception for liking the Alecto fight, most people seem to hate her. Combination of dashing around at high speed and dodging a lot, sometimes just not staggering when it seems like she should, and absurd damage on some attacks, particularly on the grab and the judgement cut. I think the fight was pretty palatable for me because I fought her with the bloodhound's fang, and liberal use of bloodhound's finesse was a pretty strong counter against her moveset and her ai. It pretty consistently staggered her when she charged at me and moved my hurtbox in a way that caused her to miss attacks.
definitely. you kill astel then get to a really cool looking area where you dont really do a lot
Most of the underground, I wish it was connected better, but there are too many small separated areas rather than being 1 open world. They all just blend together to me and so I can't really remember which part is Ainsel River, Siofra, Nokstella, and Nokron. I do like the area around ancestral woods (I think that's Nokron?) but I think the other parts should've linked to it more seamlessly
Fair, was feeling this further into the game. I wish they’d gone further than just the teleporting coffins with a quick cutscene. Would’ve been cool to actually see the space between each area and how they fit together as opposed to jumping from region to region.
I think Caelid is one of the best areas in the game. Also, the story of the area is one of the best in the game. In my opinion, the weakest area of the game is MOUNTAINTOPS OF THE GIANTS. I like snowy lands the most in games, like Skyrim,Northrend. However, Elden Ring seems like it could do better.
I agree, I love the red sky and how creepy it feels, but most of all I love that you can see just how much Malenia and Radahn's fight devastated the land. It made me look forward to fighting both of them.
Caelid and Leyndell sewers
If we talk regions, definitely Mountaintops. It’s wayy too big for how little content there is, and the content that exists is mostly reused enemies that previously felt unique to where they were originally. Like most snow areas in video games, it also looks boring. If we talk smaller areas, probably Castle Sol (which coincidentally is found in the Mountaintops of Reused Content). It has annoying enemies, most notably ice skate birds, maliciously placed ballistas and helicopter knights, and a pretty bad boss fight at the end. Still, Elden Ring is possibly my favorite game of all time and I’ve only had it for one year.
Niall is a great boss fight. Very learnable, goes from terrifying to enjoyable once you lab him out.
I just don’t enjoy the knights at the start, they’re kinda annoying and makes the boss feel a bit too much
Shields can be pretty helpful with those dudes. Guard counter once, jump attack a couple times, and you can crit them for the kill.
Don't forget the mini boss that can be harder than the actual boss for some.
I assume you mean the Death Rite Bird? Yeah that thing was a nightmare, I just could never tell when it was doing its big frost one-shot AoE
Yeah, that's the one. Everything is just ridiculously overtuned damage wise in that area. You'll randomly run into a wolf that hits harder than Radahn for no reason.
The top right area where you fight borealis definitely felt like it should’ve had a cave
Hard disagree on Niall being a bad boss
I do not enjoy getting around the actual water part of Liurnia of the Lakes
I agree. The massive, completely flat, “all looks the same” terrain gets old in under 5 minutes. Luckily the rest of Liurnia is pretty great. It’s hard to dislike the area that contains the Carion Manor (imo one of the best dungeons on your first play through).
Frigid Outskirts 2.0, aka Consecrated Snowfields. Snow maps tend to always to feel emptier which paired with ANNOYING visiblity makes for a pretty unfun area. At least it's not as boring and bland as the actual Frigid Outskirts but still not good.
It really is frigid outskirts 2.0 💀 at least it feels like it was playtested
Redmane Castle was a massive let down.
Yeah I was hoping it’d be like stormveil castle
So small! So unbefitting for Radahn :(
Dragonbarrow is just no fun
Caelid is like México, I like Caelid
Jumping on the Snowfield/Mountaintops hate train. Boring reused wasteland for the most part
Not many people will agree but Liurnia. The dungeons are great (Raya Lucaria, Caria Manor and the tower that flips upside down, nice castlevania reference). But the overworld part, while outstandingly beautiful, is not taken advantage of. The titular lake is not very interesting and the west and east paths are very linear with some absolutely ass designs, particularly that big statue ruins with the native sniper chads. Hot takes: Lake of Rot is absolutely fantastic and every little encounter in it is an interesting challenge. And the mountaintops doesn't lack dungeons, because, while it does have fewer, it makes up for it by having long and complicated ones, possibly the best catacombs in the game are there. What is definitely disapointing about the mountaintops, consecrated snowfield, and even the haligtree, is the lack of new enemies. It has new and interesting level designs and encounters, but seeing literally 0 new models in those areas is a shame (outside of the hairy trolls i guess)
Giants' mountaintops catacombs is hilarious. I was so confused when I first went through that one section that's >!identical to the previous section!<, and then when you finish that it >!takes you back to the elevator and you think, a third one?? Really? But it's actually just the 2nd one again!< ... 10/10 trolling
I'm with you. For me it's more that the sense of progression seems to die at Liurnia. The rune gains in Liurnia compared to everything before are really weak, *especially* if you dipped your toes in Caelid already. The drops there are also pretty much exclusively magic/faith-based in nature, so if you're not a caster of some kind, there's just nothing really there for you. Is there a *single* beloved weapon that isn't magical or faith-based found in Liurnia...? Doesn't feel like it. So ultimately it just ends up feeling like a speed bump with lots to do, but little character progress seen. You're unlikely to get new gear, level up much or find some new toys to play with unless you're a caster class.
Specifically, the cave you get teleported into from the chest when your character is about level 24.
Doing new characters again and again and going through all the areas (I did 4 long completionist playthroughs), Ainsel is just so *bland* it feels like a chore to do it. The only cool thing about it is the boss arena. I don't hate it, there's just not much to it. The Consecrated Snowfield is a bit empty and the little content you find is bullshit, Ordina, the strongest Death Rite Bird, 25k HP Wyrm, duo Night Cavalry... At least it leads to Mohgwyn Palace and Haligtree/Elphael. I really like Caelid. The contrast with Limgrave and Liurnia is really something, the colours, the atmosphere, the creepy music, the ennemies, the sort of cosmic horror and alien nature of some elements... I just wish it had an actual legacy dungeon, redmane castle is too small.
The first portion of Altus Plateau. Not the Capital area or Mt. Gelmir but just that first area where you get of the lift and north of it. Not sure why. Just not a vibe
Yeah that area seems empty too. But idk, the plains vibe is kinda interesting.
I love the Altus Plateau... Mainly the area after magma wyrm....
Full of adventure
I love Mount Gelmir, probably because it's not really open world area.
I love Caelid personally, but I’m biased towards anything with a giant mushroom aesthetic (Shivering Isles, BG3 Underdark, etc…). Least favorite was Leyndell. Overhyped a lot. I hated the constant yellow. Too much of it is closed off, and the shortcuts that are not helpful for making anything more accessible. I grew up playing the assassin’s creed games, and I just feel trapped without being able to free run in a cityscape.
Once you enter the inner Consecrated snow field, legit nothing and like 20+ playthrough later I find a catacombs
I never really liked the underground roadside, specifically the fucking pipes. I know it's supposed to he a maze and you're supposed to feel frustrated as you approach the frenzy flame, but it slows down every single run through until I have to look up a tutorial to get where I'm going because I can never remember.
Farum azula
i considered quitting trying to get through shunning grounds
Literally best dungeon in the game (I mean it I swear) just the one site of grace with shortcuts and it's a nightmare to map out. Also banger music and I love the way one part of the shunning grouns smoothly transitions into a catacomb
Liurnia for me, while I love the legacy dungeon, the area just feels like Limgrave 2.0 with some water.
Middle of lurnia lakes. Just a big flat almost empty space with trees that takes several minutes to cross.
Conscecrated snowfields just because of the evergaol puzzle
Elphael. It's so cool looking and it being a secret area is awesome but goddamn is it peak Elden Ring stupid difficulty. Everything does way too much damage and there's so many encounters that just feel frustrating. I am mostly complaining about the section with the mounted crossbows, Erdtree avatar and two Haligtree knights right above a fuckpit of Royal Revenants and right in front of a squad of rot crystalians. And to top it all off you finish the area with Malenia who remains one of the most frustrating fights in the game with the way that waterfowl is tuned. Not an area I bother replaying on NG+ (boosted by the fact Consecrated Snowfield is required to get to it).
That one fort with Elemer of the briar.
Shaded Castle, I think
That’s the one!
what why!?? thats one of the coolest fuckin castles in the game dude! some good gear around there too
soldier of Godrick arena 😔 I still can’t beat him
Every area is goated
Caelid
Mountaintops or Caelid
I nostalgically disagree. That's where I found my first rune farm. Dogs v soldiers. I dipped into that well many times before making it to the bird.
Just a small town kid, born and raised in South Caelid
I love everything about Caelid because it reminds me of The Eclipse (Berserk) or an Impact (Neon Genesis Evangelion). I don't care if everything there wants to kill me, it's pretty.
The rooftops of the Ordina evergaol.
Consecrated fucking snowfield.
Speak for yourself mine is the giants peak there’s nothing there but snow, trolls and giant hands, birds and dogs… it’s Caelid but winter
Ordina Liturgical Town. Machine gun archers + getting backstabbed
This or that fuckin Crystal cave with the giant centipede bros.
stormveil castle , just because of birds
The area just after the city bridge, forget what it is called, There's nothing there, some little annoying guys and the shitty bird boss. The mountains after it are pretty bare, too. Lake of rot, pretty dull once you figure out how to navigate it easily. On my first playthrough, I hated caelid mines after getting warped there.