I'm Worried I Won't Be Good Enough For Shadow Of The Erdtree

By 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Jade King

Published Jun 13, 2024

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I’ve played almost 20 hours of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Elden Ring in the past week, and I’ve quickly been reminded how excellent this game is. It’s 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:FromSoftware’s magnum opus, and even now I’m staggered by how many new discoveries I’m making on this current playthrough, delving into new💟 and familiar locations to unearth fresh enemies and secrets. It’s a staggering accomplishment I’ll expect to see replicated in Shadow of the Erdtree later this month.

That is, if I’m ready for it on time. I dove into an old save file to prepare m🌜yself after a preview event in Paris, assuming I’d have more than enough time to reach the entry point before the 28th. I’ve made good progress, making it to the snowy mountaintops as I smashed into the Capital,🔯𝕴 while I’ve also begun exploring the sunken city in service of Lady Ranni. Soon I’ll be pushing Level 90, edging ever closer to the recommended stats I’ll need for Erdtree.

Elden Ring Has Humbled Me At The Worst Time Possible

But there’s one problem. I think I’m stuck. After crashing my way through a handful of brand-new areas and upgrading my equipment with newly acquired loot, it felt like I was becoming unstoppable, ready to take on The Lands Between and turn everyone who calls it home to dust. I’d even completed all the Volcano Manor𒊎 contracts and vanquished their lord, which I’d never tackled before.

This felt like an opportunity to do and see everything before I surrendered myself to the expansion, but the snowy mountains I must try and conquer are proving much too difficult. Ever🌠ything kills me in a couple of hits, while a𓆏ll the armour and weapons that once proved incredibly powerful now seem to struggle.

Yes, I know♛ how⛦ to access the expansion, but this piece isn’t about that.

I’m not back to square one entirely, but it does feel like I need to take a step back, learn the fundamentals a second time, and realise that F༒romSoftware allowed me to feel like a Souls god only so it could pull me back to Earth moments before reaching the heavens.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree - Casting A Spell

Maybe I’m some sort of twisted masochist, but I always love the jarring power imbalance in games like this, and how there is never a ✃linear path to becoming overpowered because there is always something waiting in the next zone ready to pound you into oblivion.

It might be a familiar foe with a new outfit and skil🍬ls, or a boss you’ve never seen that makes you scream with terror because, even after 50+ hours, it still takes you by surprise. It&rs𝔍quo;s all well and good when you can take your time and slowly build up towards such an insurmountable challenge, but I’m sadly on the clock. A self-imposed clock, but a clock nonetheless.

I Don’t Want To Miss Out On Erdtree’s Early Days Of Discovery

Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree DLC - Pyromancer summons a large fire spell against a magic troll — Bandai Namco

I’m not in a position to summon help either, aside from ash spirits I can use to lure enemies away from me as I sneak in from b🥂ehind for the kill. I’m going to do this on my own, while I’m also coming to it late enough that most boss encounters don’t even have players to summon even if I wanted to. Either that or the build I’m on has disconnected me from the wider world. While I’m not going to give up, it doesn’t subtract the concern I have about being quick enough and potentially losing the magic of discovering Erdtree for the first time with everyone else.

One of the most exciting things about Shadow of the Erdtree is how it will introduce not only challenge, but a whole new section of this world dripping with new characters, lore, and loot♚ that the community will no doubt deconstruct over the coming weeks. I don’t want to stumble upon them when all the greatest discoveries have already been made, the mystery falling away because so many people will be playing at the same time. I won’t have a har🔯d time if I try to summon help, but that’s not the point.

Right now I’m beating my head up against an immovable object where my only solution is to grind through levels until I can smash throug💜h my problems with brute force or get good in the old-fashioned way by learning how this world and its biggest threats behave and doing all in my power to take them down. I’m painfully aware that I’m not good enough. And if I’m struggling now, how is Shadow of the Erdtree going to treat me?