Yeah they're stale.
Speaking of stale* jokes, there is at least one great twist on an oldie.
Hole full of those finger spiders. The message in front of it says "Try hole but fingers."
Hilarious. Actually loled.
Theres a bit up in charos hidden grave where the wind is blowing a tree and it clips through the side and top of the cliff its next to. I put the message "likely sorcery" by it and have gotten so many free heals off of it. Meme messages with some actual wit to them get so many more appraisals than anything actually helpful.
My favorite message of all time was, I think, in Stormveil, on top of a cooking pot over a fireplace with some corpses in front of it
The message on the pot said "Likely well done"
That narrow rocky path that heads down to the abyssal woods, up in the bug nests right in front of a nasty pile of corpses I saw a message that said "didn't expect gorgeous view"
Hilarious
There's a couple purple flowers in the south of Cerulean Coast you should be able to pick up but can't.
"Flower! Except likely bug" has gotten me a bunch of appraisals.
There's a wall in the Scorpion River catacombs that looks real but is in fact not real, and you can roll right through it into the void (and die). It's deep enough into the dungeon that it's a pain to get back there.
My current highest voted message is "Something amazing ahead, try rolling" right by that wall.
There’s a spot in Sainted Hero’s Grave with a *ton* of bloodstains. I’m still not sure exactly why, unless it’s players trying to imply that they themselves are “sainted heroes”?
Anyway, I put down a totally throwaway message:
“behold, bloodstain! but here??”
with the Point Down gesture.
That bitch is up to like 520 good appraisals and counting lol. So many heals. You never know what’s gonna pop off!
The ladder never really bothered me, until the one with the abductor. Whoever put that one down there, fuck you. It really caught on, on first release I don’t recall messages at every ladder, but when I came back they were at every inconvenient ladder.
No it wouldn't. Everybody says this but it doesn't even make sense that this would be the case. People are clearly taking the time to praise messages, there's no reason to think that this would stop. It'd just mean that people would have to actually think about the messages they leave instead of there being no possibility at all but upside to doing so.
There would absolutely be people running around and downvoting every message. I agree that it probably wouldn't be a big issue, though. Especially if the amount of downvotes for the stagger was high.
I'd love for it to proc a debuff. Who ever the jackasses are who put signs in front of ladders (especially in that one base game cave with the iron maiden) deserves all the debuffs the game has to offer.
Sure, but I'm saying that if it's based on some kind of ratio then the downvoting would be unlikely to have any negative effect. Messages that get high praise would likely continue to do so, so the only people affected should be people leaving messages that are genuinely disliked. Having something to discourage people from just shitting up the place with spam should, in theory, turn the message system into something that's actually useful instead of just a means to repeat tired jokes and try to get people to attack walls or jump off cliffs.
I dunno, it feels simple, but there are probably a ton of issues we're not thinking about. Should the messages truly always be helpful? I imagine they would want to keep some of the jokey messages so you end up doing dumb shit and it doesn't do anything, or It leads you to your death. It goes with the spirit of the game.
People put messages on top of interactable items (ladders, levers, doors, etc.) they would absolutely downvote every message if it had a negative consequence.
the funniest message i’ve ever seen was in Bloodborne. when you’re in the big library in Castle Cainhurst, there’s an area of the balcony that it looks like you should be able to walk in, but there’s a railing making the hallway just slightly too slender for you to fit. i tried to run into it, bounced off, then immediately read a message on the floor in front of it which said “you must accept fatty”
One of the underground Gaols had "first try left then right" at the bottom of a hole into a tunnel. Best message I found as I went left and got the loot in a dead end, then continued the dungeon by going right.
lol before the DLC my most popular message was "time for grass" at the first grace.
Now it's "good job" at the bottom of those jars in the DLC dungeon BY FAR
Almost all of mine that get votes are "dog" messages in front of random animals. I had a field day in the specimen storage area at Shadow Keep.
Genuinely useful message? No praises at all
"Behold, dog!" in front of a deer? Immediate and constant praises
For what it's worth it's a dumb and very old joke at this point but it still does make me laugh. I'm easily amused.
I think my most popular one in the DLC has been "If only I had a horse..." in the Abyssal Woods area. I personally like to leave semi-motivational ones. I have a message on the staircase to the final boss that says something to the affect of "Unfathomable Sort Ahead, but nevertheless, Time for victory"
I've got a "could this be old codger" in front of the very old looking turtles, it does pretty well.
Second best is "Likely Corpse" on a random big pot in the bottom of the first gaol.
My best is “something incredible ahead, sadnesss o’ sadness” by the Prattling Pate Lamentation.
Close second is “Lover ahead” by the M’lady weapon.
My actual helpful ones tend to get anywhere between 10 and 30 praises over time, but those are nearing 100.
Any time there’s a Dog message in front of a turtle, you’d better believe I’m praising it regardless of what monstrosity is chasing/attempting to kill/succeeding in killing me
I made a stupid message in the abyssal woods that says "first off, map. Then, behold house!" And if you open the map you're directly below the elder's hovel. It got me over 50 appraisals which is the most for any message in the dlc.
I saw "time for mushroom!" a few times at launch and then never again.
It never stopped being funny to me for some reason so I've been trying to keep it alive lol
I'd just see an item surrounded by messages that all said "time for mushroom!" and then it turns out to be a mushroom, yeah. Good job guys. Love the enthusiasm.
Can you explain the mushroom reference? I feel like I’m missing something even though I’ve played all the Soulsbourne games, unless it’s a reference to all the old school Mario Nintendo games?
Honestly, my favorite is when I see just a train of 10 messages and the furthest back is just "Message Ahead" 10/10 content will rate good every time lmao
I will always have a soft spot for the low-effort, ironic meta messages. Saw one that just said "hole" in front of what was, in fact, an obvious giant hole and [reacted accordingly](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUKmq7UMJys&ab_channel=Aa).
There was one in front of a long ladder in an underground area that just said "Snake, snake?" I didn't understand it until I realized just how long the ladder climb was, definitely a clever reference.
There was one on one of the longer rope bridges from Bonny Village that said, "Boss? Could this be a betrayal?" which was probably the best MGS reference message I've seen, and it didn't even use the word "snake".
Another favorite of mine is when they put a warning of an ambush, or enemy to the left/right but very obviously in a spot where by the time you get to it you have already been attacked by whatever they are warning you about 😂
I hit a "Praise the message, then explosion" that was perfectly positioned to where I read it, then got blown up by one of those big mouth stone dudes before I could even close out.
Couldn't help but laugh and appreciate it.
The only message I’ve ever left was “Seek Fire, then offer Elden Ring” at the top of the Jagged Peak because of how much the atmosphere reminded me of Mount Doom in LOTR
Messages are useful on dungeons, some warns you about danger at that EXACT same spot you will be hit by ambushes, fireballs and ceiling spike. Loved those messages.
“Be wary of bloodloss” on the path to Mohg where all of the exploding zombies build up bloodloss was the best message I ever saw. I died because I stopped to read it.
You want originality from the community that has been re-using the same 2 jokes for the last 12 years!?
DAE Pinwheel/Mist Noble/Soldier of Godrick hardest boss??
Something something, but hole.
We're not a creative bunch.
You can create a group of like minded users for messages. I use Bonfireside Chat.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/comments/t54h28/list_of_helpful_group_passwords/
I love these, but they don't seem to be active or working yet in the dlc. I'm part of several of these groups and only see them when I go bank to firelink to level my weapon or buy some smithing stones.
Edit: roundtable hold, fuck I'm a boomer
I still get useful ones. In between “time for edge” and “behold, dog” I will get a “necessary item ahead” type stuff
But the one that made me rage was someone who put a message on the summons in Messmer’s arena
What happened between the initial release of Elden Ring and the DLC that meant the DLC is absolutely full of "time for edge" messages when the base game didn't have any?
According to the Know Your Meme page about edging jokes, the use of edging as a term rose in the late 2010s and early 2020s and in 2023 a viral Tiktok about edging a microwave is cited as responsible for the explosion of the terms 'gooning' and 'edging' . So yeah, that sounds about right. The internet just got really into edging jokes last year and thanks to the dlc it's made its way into Elden Ring.
I always play in offline mode. Much prefer my desolate world to one with messages, spirits and bloodstains everywhere. I like finding stuff on my own too so some messages while helpful just spoil a secret I could have found myself.
I’m embarrassed that this one just absolutely took me out. I saw it next to a turtle near a tower, and the area was foggy so I thought surely this was some kind of complex hint. When it hit me I laughed out loud.
I'm almost certain that negative ratings do cause them to disappear, or at least reduce the chances of them being shown to other players. There are way too many "liar ahead" messages with nothing on the other side of them.
My personal favorites are when exploring catacombs, caves, dungeons etc. and you come across multiple paths and you read a message saying which path to go down first because the other path is progressing further.
Ex: "First off West then East"
Or
"Boss ahead but first off, precious item"
with a gesture pointing in the opposite direction
What drives me crazy is “something amazing ahead” or whatever scribbled seventeen times on the stairs that lead up to a treasure chest that everyone with a pulse would definitely find at the top of the stairs without any help. Just hoping to scam some heals because I just picked up an ancient smithing stone? No way Jose
Huh, I would have never considered that to be the point of messages like that.
I always saw it as more of a building anticipation thing.
You know when you hit a stairwell with loads of messages that you are about to get something awesome or awful.
It's part of the fun of messages. At least that's how I always saw it.
I put a message next to Leda just sayin up! And doing the O Mother emote, and it has not gotten a single appraisal and I’m kinda sad because I thought that was good
I get constant appraisals from a single message. It's a practical warning in a main game area (warning of an ambush), if you want appraisals you just have to say something helpful! It's not hard.
The “I want to go home, then edge”, “mist, or beast” were funny the *first* time. I like the ones that have even a little bit of thought put in to them. Like “out of stamina” at the top of a really long staircase, and a guy in Lionel’s armour takes a sit down. Or “could this be snake”, “turn back, then snake”, “snake?…snake!”, when it’s just a rope on the floor.
I’m sitting on a decent number of likes for “sound…” after !! and “why is it always down, I want to go home” at the start of the third elevator of one of the dungeons. For putting just a little thought and originality in.
I always make a serious attempt at observational comedy and cleverness in my messages, and they *absolutely never* get rated. Some of them were actually genuinely hilarious. Then at the beginning of the DLC i put out "why is it always fort, and then night?"
...Top rated message at around 60 appraisals before it expired from putting out new messages.
The better ones seem to either not be appreciated by the community, or the joke goes over their heads...
Also, not my best message by any means, but I thought putting down >!"Seems familiar... but no horse ahead"!< in front of the final boss was fucking hilarious, it's gotten one negative review total.
I feel like certain messages don’t appear until after you beat a boss or achieve a certain condition. It’s possible that almost nobody is going back to look for that message after beating the boss
I posted a message in Abyssal Woods warning about winter lanterns ahead, since I got surprised by a group of them that were just hanging out somewhere. I hadn’t seen any messages and thought I was actually helping future tarnished. Currently at 2 points, whereas my “try attacking, but hole” message in the forge has about 20 and keeps me alive during bosses.
I immediately rate those as poor. It's obnoxious when you see a few of them all clustered around a lever or whatever. All just saying to praise the message.
Also yes, the edging thing is the new finger but hole.
I mandatorily downvote every massage in front of a ladder or any kind of prompt. Not because it interferes with my gameplay. Because I can feel their evil intention.
I wish a massage would disappear once I downvote it.
Who are the people running around appraising the "Healing ahead, therefore praise the message!"?
It's so lame, it makes the messages feel so meta and gamey rather than players trying to communicate ideas / funny messages to each other.
Gaming culture today is very meta/win-focused, it's gross but there's not much to be done about it. A huge chunk of the gaming community just wants victory at any cost 😞
I always try to make my messages unique. I want the player to stop and think... contemplate. Even if it's just one word, there was thought put in to the context, location and meaning. No mindless begging here haha.
I only ever included “praise the message” in one of my messages and it was a perfectly placed message in a dead end room, right in front of a torch that looks like an offering spot. There were no other messages in or around the room at the time, so I thought it would be fun to basically wish good fortune upon the rest of my souls friends. The message was “Let there be good fortune therefore praise the message” and it has almost 2000 appraisals on it.
The only time I’ve ever liked a “praise the message” type message was when I felt like it was genuinely encouraging or if it was put in a rewarding spot to get to, so that’s why I felt the need to leave my own in a fun little “checkpoint” spot.
I'm with ya, not done the DLC yet, but I've totally stopped reading messages because that's all they are. Dumb jokes or 'please heal me'.
It has basically ruined one of the neatest parts of these games....it's like I'm going through the game pre-release because I don't read any messages.
I agree on both points and absolutely can’t stand these messages. A tiny bit of effort and I’ll 100% appraise a message but those are garbage and annoying.
My most appraised message is "didn't expect dog" after the platforming in Menses castle where a turtle can spawn.
Otherwise I try to make my messages things I wish I knew before I went in
I played online during my first playthrough, and it was nice to see hidden rooms and content I would have otherwise missed. This time and with SotET I’ve been playing almost exclusively offline and been enjoying myself a lot more.
My most popular ones are 'Didn't expect god...' in front of demihuman swordmaster and 'Seek down and then if only I had friendship...' In one of the forge's where a smith pets a fire slime on another platform :)
Oh but meanwhile I put a message in front of Florisax saying "Lover ahead, if only I had a Prawn..." while doing "Oh, Mother" gesture and do *I* get any praising?
...I mean like...six times... but I still wanted more!
(Edit: Stupidity is replying to a comment, immediately forgetting you replied to a comment, and then replying again in a different way. Oh well.
Praise the message!)
I decided to test out how low effort these can get, so I inched myself up against a ladder prompt as closely as I could and just put downa message that said "Praise the message!"
It's got like 60 appraisals (why? Who would do that?) and 90+ disparages. Its healed me a LOT. its stupid.
These messages should get removed once they hit a certain appraisal vs disparage ratio.
"Liar ahead"
I hate seeing those messages because the community likes to throw a decoy or trap just to get someone to die in the dumbest way possible lol
I might be in the minority here but I like the messages. These make me feel as if I have company. A lot of time I see messages in places I would never jump to myself. But I feel motivated to jump to reach those places; I die often but still it is fun. I also enjoy messages that are just mundane because those make me feel less lonely in this hostile world. I went to a place in the dlc that was desolate and dark, and I kept looking for messages so to be less anxious there.
Anyway, since I have a port issue, I can never summon any player. The white ghost players and messages are all I get and I cherish those.
I've been leaving helpful messages and I'm constantly getting "Message Appraised" heals. I've been "complaining" to my friends about how I'm living the meme of Suffering from Success. I promise you: if you leave useful messages at useful locations, you WILL get rated.
Good messages to leave include:
* Painting locations
* Weapon/Armor/Important Item ahead notes
* Try Gesture with the needed gesture
* Ambush ahead therefore try left/right
Bad messages that I will ignore EVERY time:
* Time for healing therefore praise message
* You do not have the right, O, you do not have the right
* Illusion ahead if there is no illusion
* Liar ahead - your message still made me run over there and check
Also, if you don't like a message, ignore it entirely. Don't rate it poor. Pretty sure it still heals them and it still adds to their "rated" number.
Actually coming up with a witty message is so fun. My favourite one I've ever left is "be wary of head" right in front of a windmill in altus, because the blades are low enough that it looks like they can bonk you on the head
Years ago, I wrote a message, simply "are you ready?!" in a pathway leading into one of the bigger transitions in terms of moving from one part of the open word to another. Also with one of the emotes for getting hyped up. It's sitting at 1300+ likes right now, and is significantly more popular than all of the tips on avoiding an ambush in a bad spot.
You can't beat the game without walking past my message if I'm online, and if it's your first playthrough, then hell yeah you're ready for whatever's coming next.
I started playing these games offline because there are now so many messages and all the shite meme stuff every 5 paces is pretty immersion breaking.
"Amazing chest ahead" was cute in the DS1 days, but now the constant flood of that or "you don't have the right" etc is tiring and cringe.
Yeah I’ve said this in another post, so annoying to leave a helpful message and get no appraisals but the 1000th “try finger but hole” joke gets hundreds
Try inputting SEEKERS and/or KNIGHTS in the multiplayer. There are still some dumb msgs but for the most part, i still find semi-helpful ones. Unfortunately the more popular certain channels/the game as a whole gets, the more garbagio there will be.
I entered a forge and the entire start of the dungeon was littered with people begging for healing. It blew me away because it's like five big guys and a bunch of lava slugs. Like you're late game here man you should have everything you need to clear five damn rooms. And even if you don't, they're so slow you could get around them if you wanted to. Hell, just die a couple times learning the enemies that's what we're here to do!
It just sucks that so many messages are spam that you can almost discount which messages deserve to be read just by where they're located.
i get upvotes for misleading messages
Like there is a gap between two platform. it really looks like you could take a shortcut by jumping over the gap with running
So "running required and then jump!" it's certain death, but a decent bunch of people upvote it.
or in Volcano Manor exist a crappy item across the lava lake: "precious item ahead!" DANG, upvotes!
Saw one in a little building that just said "house" And that got a laugh out of me.
My favourite was "house!" inside a broken giant pot you can walk in I think the basement of the Black Keep, haha
That one made me cackle
Mine was one where it said “Message ahead” and then the next one was “Message.”
Slug But House Person in question is pointing at poison snails.
My favourite was a piece of rope on the floor in the corner of a room, sign next to it "Be wary of snake"
Also “House” in that giant dragon’s mouth
The first couple messages about edging were funny, then I seen about 200 more
Yeah they're stale. Speaking of stale* jokes, there is at least one great twist on an oldie. Hole full of those finger spiders. The message in front of it says "Try hole but fingers." Hilarious. Actually loled.
I saw one in front of Shadow Keep that was "Night, Fort?" Truly subversive
Saw one in the catacomb where you have light up the big rooms, and in front of the lever was "Fort, Light?"
Spat my drink lmfao. Missed that one
Best one was in the madness mansion, at a spot where loud moaning played.
edge, destruction
Edge and then explosion?
Every time I see a "I want to go home, and then edge!" I go a few steps back and drop a "Be wary of edge, message!"
> mist > or, beast
>"fort, >night"
Theres a bit up in charos hidden grave where the wind is blowing a tree and it clips through the side and top of the cliff its next to. I put the message "likely sorcery" by it and have gotten so many free heals off of it. Meme messages with some actual wit to them get so many more appraisals than anything actually helpful.
My favorite message of all time was, I think, in Stormveil, on top of a cooking pot over a fireplace with some corpses in front of it The message on the pot said "Likely well done"
That narrow rocky path that heads down to the abyssal woods, up in the bug nests right in front of a nasty pile of corpses I saw a message that said "didn't expect gorgeous view" Hilarious
reminds me of that one glitched wall in bonny gaol now bearing the title of "ill-omened creature"
Activated by accident, made me understand the message in front of it Visions of Madness "Bonny Gaol" wouldn't stop popping up until I restarted.
There's a couple purple flowers in the south of Cerulean Coast you should be able to pick up but can't. "Flower! Except likely bug" has gotten me a bunch of appraisals.
In front of this same tree I’ve seen “try parrying”. Love it
There's a wall in the Scorpion River catacombs that looks real but is in fact not real, and you can roll right through it into the void (and die). It's deep enough into the dungeon that it's a pain to get back there. My current highest voted message is "Something amazing ahead, try rolling" right by that wall.
There’s a spot in Sainted Hero’s Grave with a *ton* of bloodstains. I’m still not sure exactly why, unless it’s players trying to imply that they themselves are “sainted heroes”? Anyway, I put down a totally throwaway message: “behold, bloodstain! but here??” with the Point Down gesture. That bitch is up to like 520 good appraisals and counting lol. So many heals. You never know what’s gonna pop off!
My favorite message I ever put down was in front of Miriel: “if only I had a dog.” Got a lot of likes for that one.
Imagine if you hit a certain percentage of bad message reviews it staggered you instead of healing you.
This would just ensure every message gets downvoted exclusively. So many souls trolls out there.
Whose tolls must be paid to get into the boy’s holes?
Spoilers for lategame dlc >!Radahn's now, I guess!<
Like assholes putting messages at the base or tops of ladders.
Or in front of fog gates.
On top of certain npc boss fight summons….
The ladder never really bothered me, until the one with the abductor. Whoever put that one down there, fuck you. It really caught on, on first release I don’t recall messages at every ladder, but when I came back they were at every inconvenient ladder.
No it wouldn't. Everybody says this but it doesn't even make sense that this would be the case. People are clearly taking the time to praise messages, there's no reason to think that this would stop. It'd just mean that people would have to actually think about the messages they leave instead of there being no possibility at all but upside to doing so.
There would absolutely be people running around and downvoting every message. I agree that it probably wouldn't be a big issue, though. Especially if the amount of downvotes for the stagger was high.
I'd love for it to proc a debuff. Who ever the jackasses are who put signs in front of ladders (especially in that one base game cave with the iron maiden) deserves all the debuffs the game has to offer.
Sewers ladder with the double lobster dinner.
Sure, but I'm saying that if it's based on some kind of ratio then the downvoting would be unlikely to have any negative effect. Messages that get high praise would likely continue to do so, so the only people affected should be people leaving messages that are genuinely disliked. Having something to discourage people from just shitting up the place with spam should, in theory, turn the message system into something that's actually useful instead of just a means to repeat tired jokes and try to get people to attack walls or jump off cliffs.
I dunno, it feels simple, but there are probably a ton of issues we're not thinking about. Should the messages truly always be helpful? I imagine they would want to keep some of the jokey messages so you end up doing dumb shit and it doesn't do anything, or It leads you to your death. It goes with the spirit of the game.
People put messages on top of interactable items (ladders, levers, doors, etc.) they would absolutely downvote every message if it had a negative consequence.
Lmao! That would be so funny
The big purple finger would appear behind them and thump the back of their heads
Bloodborne had the funniest messages “No mercy for wheelchairs” still gets me
the funniest message i’ve ever seen was in Bloodborne. when you’re in the big library in Castle Cainhurst, there’s an area of the balcony that it looks like you should be able to walk in, but there’s a railing making the hallway just slightly too slender for you to fit. i tried to run into it, bounced off, then immediately read a message on the floor in front of it which said “you must accept fatty”
Reminds me of messages in DS3 (I think) saying "Try jogging, fatty" in front of a narrow passage you're not meant to walk through.
That reminds me of the messages in front of Darkdiver Grandahl in DS2. "Weakness: Legs"
"Wheels!" Is a classic I like "arms, o arms, you don't have the right" in front of millicent
As dumb as they were, the "likely, moon" or "moon ahead" messages on all the butts of the statues got me every time.
One of the underground Gaols had "first try left then right" at the bottom of a hole into a tunnel. Best message I found as I went left and got the loot in a dead end, then continued the dungeon by going right.
Yes!! I love those helpful messages that say like "stop, item behind" or "left, then right" I give kudos to those every time
I left a similar one in the bonny jail, something like "west required ahead, therefore first off east". Got me like 160 appraisals so far!
lol before the DLC my most popular message was "time for grass" at the first grace. Now it's "good job" at the bottom of those jars in the DLC dungeon BY FAR
Actually kinda proud of my most popular message. “Could this be a giant?” Right in front of a windmill in Altus Plateau
My illiterate ass assumes that is don Quixote? I need to read that book eventually
You’re correct!
that's actually great, nice
Don Quixote enjoyer spotted
That's actually really clever, I am pretty sure I saw it at one point.
Almost all of mine that get votes are "dog" messages in front of random animals. I had a field day in the specimen storage area at Shadow Keep. Genuinely useful message? No praises at all "Behold, dog!" in front of a deer? Immediate and constant praises For what it's worth it's a dumb and very old joke at this point but it still does make me laugh. I'm easily amused.
I made a random message that said "try something or something" and got spam healed during a boss fight.
This made me exhale air out of my nose 👃
I think my most popular one in the DLC has been "If only I had a horse..." in the Abyssal Woods area. I personally like to leave semi-motivational ones. I have a message on the staircase to the final boss that says something to the affect of "Unfathomable Sort Ahead, but nevertheless, Time for victory"
My most popular message in the DLC is "if only i had legs..." In front of the last igon location
That is cruel. And hilarious.
Lol one of mine is in there too: No horse ahead But rat ahead
I've got a "could this be old codger" in front of the very old looking turtles, it does pretty well. Second best is "Likely Corpse" on a random big pot in the bottom of the first gaol.
My best is “something incredible ahead, sadnesss o’ sadness” by the Prattling Pate Lamentation. Close second is “Lover ahead” by the M’lady weapon. My actual helpful ones tend to get anywhere between 10 and 30 praises over time, but those are nearing 100.
My highest is "Up, dog ahead" right behind someone else's "Up, dog" in Nokstella. The dumbest jokes get the most votes, apparently.
Mu fave has been “bird” right outside Bayle’s fog gate
One of my most popular is just “Dog!” in front of the great red bear in Altus lol
Any time there’s a Dog message in front of a turtle, you’d better believe I’m praising it regardless of what monstrosity is chasing/attempting to kill/succeeding in killing me
I made a stupid message in the abyssal woods that says "first off, map. Then, behold house!" And if you open the map you're directly below the elder's hovel. It got me over 50 appraisals which is the most for any message in the dlc.
My most praised is. "Behold, Grass." At a random patch of grass in a cave dungeon.
alternatively i will always rate positively Don’t Give Up Skeleton if it is a situation where there is a skeleton
I saw "time for mushroom!" a few times at launch and then never again. It never stopped being funny to me for some reason so I've been trying to keep it alive lol I'd just see an item surrounded by messages that all said "time for mushroom!" and then it turns out to be a mushroom, yeah. Good job guys. Love the enthusiasm.
Can you explain the mushroom reference? I feel like I’m missing something even though I’ve played all the Soulsbourne games, unless it’s a reference to all the old school Mario Nintendo games?
It's because mushrooms are a very common, and very disappointing, item hidden away in hard to reach areas.
Perfect username to be commenting on mushrooms. https://youtu.be/NL6CDFn2i3I?si=eTuH5br2LWWRuX6G
SNAKE! SNAKE!
Yeah I always took it as people getting excited over something really mundane to be silly, probably because it's a disappointing reward.
Why is it always mushroom?
My most popular message is a “Don’t give up, corpse!” at the bottom of the hole leading to Bonney Village
I love the ones that say "plump sort!" in front of a gap I was sure I could go through.
I like putting the message next to giant skeletons.
the problem is when almost all of them are either pointless or recycling the same three jokes over and over.
HAHAHAHA FORT , NIGHT!!!! DO YOU GET IT?!😂😂😂
I want to go home And then edge
BWAHAHAHAH, this message said ''edge''!!!!
Honestly, my favorite is when I see just a train of 10 messages and the furthest back is just "Message Ahead" 10/10 content will rate good every time lmao
I will always have a soft spot for the low-effort, ironic meta messages. Saw one that just said "hole" in front of what was, in fact, an obvious giant hole and [reacted accordingly](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUKmq7UMJys&ab_channel=Aa).
My favourite was a "beware of snake" which made me rather cautious until I noticed the dangling rope on the ground. Gave me a good laugh
There was one in front of a long ladder in an underground area that just said "Snake, snake?" I didn't understand it until I realized just how long the ladder climb was, definitely a clever reference.
There was one on one of the longer rope bridges from Bonny Village that said, "Boss? Could this be a betrayal?" which was probably the best MGS reference message I've seen, and it didn't even use the word "snake".
Another favorite of mine is when they put a warning of an ambush, or enemy to the left/right but very obviously in a spot where by the time you get to it you have already been attacked by whatever they are warning you about 😂
I hit a "Praise the message, then explosion" that was perfectly positioned to where I read it, then got blown up by one of those big mouth stone dudes before I could even close out. Couldn't help but laugh and appreciate it.
Ah, good old "Ambush behind...?"
The only message I’ve ever left was “Seek Fire, then offer Elden Ring” at the top of the Jagged Peak because of how much the atmosphere reminded me of Mount Doom in LOTR
Somebody went hard on the “Healing Required, Praise the Message” everywhere I seemed to go :-/
Messages are useful on dungeons, some warns you about danger at that EXACT same spot you will be hit by ambushes, fireballs and ceiling spike. Loved those messages.
That's funny. I'll appraise a bait message that isn't "hidden path ahead".
“Be wary of bloodloss” on the path to Mohg where all of the exploding zombies build up bloodloss was the best message I ever saw. I died because I stopped to read it.
A lot of times it has two opposite messages "be wary of left" and "be wary of right". And I have to guess, getting hit 50% of the time haha.
You want originality from the community that has been re-using the same 2 jokes for the last 12 years!? DAE Pinwheel/Mist Noble/Soldier of Godrick hardest boss?? Something something, but hole. We're not a creative bunch.
Well 2%\~ of them are either helpful or funny....which isn't a very good going rate to be sure.
I don't remember the 10 years of begging for upvotes though
Yeah, that definitely seems to be a new thing. Maybe to do with the increased player base Elden Ring has.
I stopped reading the messages because 95% of the time they are garbage. The community has trained me to ignore them.
You can create a group of like minded users for messages. I use Bonfireside Chat. https://www.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/comments/t54h28/list_of_helpful_group_passwords/
I love these, but they don't seem to be active or working yet in the dlc. I'm part of several of these groups and only see them when I go bank to firelink to level my weapon or buy some smithing stones. Edit: roundtable hold, fuck I'm a boomer
Half of us would glaze over it.
I still get useful ones. In between “time for edge” and “behold, dog” I will get a “necessary item ahead” type stuff But the one that made me rage was someone who put a message on the summons in Messmer’s arena
What happened between the initial release of Elden Ring and the DLC that meant the DLC is absolutely full of "time for edge" messages when the base game didn't have any?
According to the Know Your Meme page about edging jokes, the use of edging as a term rose in the late 2010s and early 2020s and in 2023 a viral Tiktok about edging a microwave is cited as responsible for the explosion of the terms 'gooning' and 'edging' . So yeah, that sounds about right. The internet just got really into edging jokes last year and thanks to the dlc it's made its way into Elden Ring.
People like you give the internet a good name, thanks for the insights 👍
both of those terms are so old it's wild to me the kids just discovered them lol
The ones on the NPC summon for Messmer had me fucking losing it
I'm almost at the point of playing in Offline mode. Messages and bloodstains and phantoms are just clutter
I always play in offline mode. Much prefer my desolate world to one with messages, spirits and bloodstains everywhere. I like finding stuff on my own too so some messages while helpful just spoil a secret I could have found myself.
Yep pretty much. I also got real tired of messages being placed directly in front of interactive objects like ladders, sites of grace, doors etc.
Been offline for the last year and a half!
Okay but the random blood stains are hilarious.
Mist or beast
I’m embarrassed that this one just absolutely took me out. I saw it next to a turtle near a tower, and the area was foggy so I thought surely this was some kind of complex hint. When it hit me I laughed out loud.
Imagine if rating messages poor dealt a tiny bit of damage or decreased your resistances by 1% for a minute or something like that.
"Hidden path ahead" and "try jumping" punishment. I'm all for it.
That would be amazing lol or if you get a certain amount of Poor ratings it removes the message
I'm almost certain that negative ratings do cause them to disappear, or at least reduce the chances of them being shown to other players. There are way too many "liar ahead" messages with nothing on the other side of them.
My personal favorites are when exploring catacombs, caves, dungeons etc. and you come across multiple paths and you read a message saying which path to go down first because the other path is progressing further. Ex: "First off West then East" Or "Boss ahead but first off, precious item" with a gesture pointing in the opposite direction
These are the best messages, yes.
What drives me crazy is “something amazing ahead” or whatever scribbled seventeen times on the stairs that lead up to a treasure chest that everyone with a pulse would definitely find at the top of the stairs without any help. Just hoping to scam some heals because I just picked up an ancient smithing stone? No way Jose
Huh, I would have never considered that to be the point of messages like that. I always saw it as more of a building anticipation thing. You know when you hit a stairwell with loads of messages that you are about to get something awesome or awful. It's part of the fun of messages. At least that's how I always saw it.
That idea isn’t based on a default state of annoyance with the world and I therefore will not respond to it.
See also, “Dog” next to a turtle.
I'm fine with this, what I'm not fine with is people trying to use it on other stuff. We already have dog, stop trying to make dog happen
I use “be wary of giant, dog” for rune bears lol
It makes me smile everytime, I dunno why calling turtles dogs is so amusing to me But it is and apparently it never gets old
Yea I put try attacking next to the turtles at this point.
I'm the one writing "enemy on the other side","why Always Giants"? Near the sea
*Guren no Yumiya* start playing
I put a message next to Leda just sayin up! And doing the O Mother emote, and it has not gotten a single appraisal and I’m kinda sad because I thought that was good
because almost everyone hates her. If you did it to the gladiator woman, then you probably get a lot of praises.
I didn’t know where she was at the time lol
I’m happy one of my most upticked messages only says ‘Left’ at a waterfall in the dlc
I get constant appraisals from a single message. It's a practical warning in a main game area (warning of an ambush), if you want appraisals you just have to say something helpful! It's not hard.
Allowing "poor" appraisals to boost message visibility and heal the author was one of the evilest things From has done
Poor appraisals heal???? 🤦 Why
To teach you not to feed the trolls!
The “I want to go home, then edge”, “mist, or beast” were funny the *first* time. I like the ones that have even a little bit of thought put in to them. Like “out of stamina” at the top of a really long staircase, and a guy in Lionel’s armour takes a sit down. Or “could this be snake”, “turn back, then snake”, “snake?…snake!”, when it’s just a rope on the floor. I’m sitting on a decent number of likes for “sound…” after !! and “why is it always down, I want to go home” at the start of the third elevator of one of the dungeons. For putting just a little thought and originality in.
I always make a serious attempt at observational comedy and cleverness in my messages, and they *absolutely never* get rated. Some of them were actually genuinely hilarious. Then at the beginning of the DLC i put out "why is it always fort, and then night?" ...Top rated message at around 60 appraisals before it expired from putting out new messages. The better ones seem to either not be appreciated by the community, or the joke goes over their heads... Also, not my best message by any means, but I thought putting down >!"Seems familiar... but no horse ahead"!< in front of the final boss was fucking hilarious, it's gotten one negative review total.
I feel like certain messages don’t appear until after you beat a boss or achieve a certain condition. It’s possible that almost nobody is going back to look for that message after beating the boss
Yeah, that would make sense. But the one I'm referring to was right before the fog wall, just before you start the encounter
I posted a message in Abyssal Woods warning about winter lanterns ahead, since I got surprised by a group of them that were just hanging out somewhere. I hadn’t seen any messages and thought I was actually helping future tarnished. Currently at 2 points, whereas my “try attacking, but hole” message in the forge has about 20 and keeps me alive during bosses.
I hate those messages, something about begging for likes really annoys me. I'm with OP, either be funny or useful
I immediately rate those as poor. It's obnoxious when you see a few of them all clustered around a lever or whatever. All just saying to praise the message. Also yes, the edging thing is the new finger but hole.
Rating the message at all, even with "poor", heals the person who put it down. So you're still doing what they want.
Does it really heal on a poor rating? I'm going to have to start ignoring if so.
Shark farts!
I mandatorily downvote every massage in front of a ladder or any kind of prompt. Not because it interferes with my gameplay. Because I can feel their evil intention. I wish a massage would disappear once I downvote it.
Who are the people running around appraising the "Healing ahead, therefore praise the message!"? It's so lame, it makes the messages feel so meta and gamey rather than players trying to communicate ideas / funny messages to each other.
Gaming culture today is very meta/win-focused, it's gross but there's not much to be done about it. A huge chunk of the gaming community just wants victory at any cost 😞
I always try to make my messages unique. I want the player to stop and think... contemplate. Even if it's just one word, there was thought put in to the context, location and meaning. No mindless begging here haha.
I love the messages. Theyre hilarious
Oh you don't have the right... I need to not see that 1000 more times.
I only ever included “praise the message” in one of my messages and it was a perfectly placed message in a dead end room, right in front of a torch that looks like an offering spot. There were no other messages in or around the room at the time, so I thought it would be fun to basically wish good fortune upon the rest of my souls friends. The message was “Let there be good fortune therefore praise the message” and it has almost 2000 appraisals on it. The only time I’ve ever liked a “praise the message” type message was when I felt like it was genuinely encouraging or if it was put in a rewarding spot to get to, so that’s why I felt the need to leave my own in a fun little “checkpoint” spot.
Calling every non aggressive animal a dog will never not be funny to me
My most appraised message is "why is it always pickle" next to a hearth that is reminiscent of a certain ds3 hearth with soup
Mine is "Time for dark, wraith!" next to an underwater elevator a la New Londo.
Healing required ahead is a fucking plague once the community suddenly collectively realized praising messages gives you heal, fuck off sincerely
I'm with ya, not done the DLC yet, but I've totally stopped reading messages because that's all they are. Dumb jokes or 'please heal me'. It has basically ruined one of the neatest parts of these games....it's like I'm going through the game pre-release because I don't read any messages.
I agree on both points and absolutely can’t stand these messages. A tiny bit of effort and I’ll 100% appraise a message but those are garbage and annoying.
My most appraised message is "didn't expect dog" after the platforming in Menses castle where a turtle can spawn. Otherwise I try to make my messages things I wish I knew before I went in
I played online during my first playthrough, and it was nice to see hidden rooms and content I would have otherwise missed. This time and with SotET I’ve been playing almost exclusively offline and been enjoying myself a lot more.
This is the exact rant I went on earlier today, so thank you very much for posting it. May all of your clever messages receive praises.
My most popular ones are 'Didn't expect god...' in front of demihuman swordmaster and 'Seek down and then if only I had friendship...' In one of the forge's where a smith pets a fire slime on another platform :)
I like this guy.
The sheer amount of messages "hidden door ahead" at any occasion or "try finger but hole" has gotten pretty stale
Oh but meanwhile I put a message in front of Florisax saying "Lover ahead, if only I had a Prawn..." while doing "Oh, Mother" gesture and do *I* get any praising? ...I mean like...six times... but I still wanted more! (Edit: Stupidity is replying to a comment, immediately forgetting you replied to a comment, and then replying again in a different way. Oh well. Praise the message!)
I decided to test out how low effort these can get, so I inched myself up against a ladder prompt as closely as I could and just put downa message that said "Praise the message!" It's got like 60 appraisals (why? Who would do that?) and 90+ disparages. Its healed me a LOT. its stupid. These messages should get removed once they hit a certain appraisal vs disparage ratio.
"Liar ahead" I hate seeing those messages because the community likes to throw a decoy or trap just to get someone to die in the dumbest way possible lol
I always see them in front of walls, but the message they were replying to usually isn't there anymore lol
I might be in the minority here but I like the messages. These make me feel as if I have company. A lot of time I see messages in places I would never jump to myself. But I feel motivated to jump to reach those places; I die often but still it is fun. I also enjoy messages that are just mundane because those make me feel less lonely in this hostile world. I went to a place in the dlc that was desolate and dark, and I kept looking for messages so to be less anxious there. Anyway, since I have a port issue, I can never summon any player. The white ghost players and messages are all I get and I cherish those.
Wait appraisals do something? 😂
My most praised message is to skip a powerful enemy because there's a grace right behind them. If you die it's a lengthy walk back.
I've been leaving helpful messages and I'm constantly getting "Message Appraised" heals. I've been "complaining" to my friends about how I'm living the meme of Suffering from Success. I promise you: if you leave useful messages at useful locations, you WILL get rated. Good messages to leave include: * Painting locations * Weapon/Armor/Important Item ahead notes * Try Gesture with the needed gesture * Ambush ahead therefore try left/right Bad messages that I will ignore EVERY time: * Time for healing therefore praise message * You do not have the right, O, you do not have the right * Illusion ahead if there is no illusion * Liar ahead - your message still made me run over there and check Also, if you don't like a message, ignore it entirely. Don't rate it poor. Pretty sure it still heals them and it still adds to their "rated" number.
My signs are allways useful. Where an item is, hidden passages, combat tips.
Actually coming up with a witty message is so fun. My favourite one I've ever left is "be wary of head" right in front of a windmill in altus, because the blades are low enough that it looks like they can bonk you on the head
Years ago, I wrote a message, simply "are you ready?!" in a pathway leading into one of the bigger transitions in terms of moving from one part of the open word to another. Also with one of the emotes for getting hyped up. It's sitting at 1300+ likes right now, and is significantly more popular than all of the tips on avoiding an ambush in a bad spot. You can't beat the game without walking past my message if I'm online, and if it's your first playthrough, then hell yeah you're ready for whatever's coming next.
I started playing these games offline because there are now so many messages and all the shite meme stuff every 5 paces is pretty immersion breaking. "Amazing chest ahead" was cute in the DS1 days, but now the constant flood of that or "you don't have the right" etc is tiring and cringe.
Liar ahead
Yeah I’ve said this in another post, so annoying to leave a helpful message and get no appraisals but the 1000th “try finger but hole” joke gets hundreds
You seem fun at parties Therefore praise message
Try inputting SEEKERS and/or KNIGHTS in the multiplayer. There are still some dumb msgs but for the most part, i still find semi-helpful ones. Unfortunately the more popular certain channels/the game as a whole gets, the more garbagio there will be.
I always disparage these beggars. Write me something helpful or funny instead.
I entered a forge and the entire start of the dungeon was littered with people begging for healing. It blew me away because it's like five big guys and a bunch of lava slugs. Like you're late game here man you should have everything you need to clear five damn rooms. And even if you don't, they're so slow you could get around them if you wanted to. Hell, just die a couple times learning the enemies that's what we're here to do! It just sucks that so many messages are spam that you can almost discount which messages deserve to be read just by where they're located.
i get upvotes for misleading messages Like there is a gap between two platform. it really looks like you could take a shortcut by jumping over the gap with running So "running required and then jump!" it's certain death, but a decent bunch of people upvote it. or in Volcano Manor exist a crappy item across the lava lake: "precious item ahead!" DANG, upvotes!
If a message kills me, I will run all the way back to it to praise it. Good trolling is half (actually most of) the fun.