I was curious how many of the quests/side-quests people completed in their ER playthroughs? I'm nearly 50 hours deep, spread over the last few months, and looking at the quests etc. in wikis is really quite intimidating... That, and there's a part of me that feels the 'experience' is 'cheapened' by looking stuff up etc.

Am I being a little too self-conscious about all of this? I really enjoy the exploration and the combat, but a part of me gets pissed off that I miss locations and 'content'...

I think the quests are kinda poorly designed imo. The world is huge and sometimes you are given next to no information about where to find the next part of a quest. I had no qualms about looking that stuff up. And a lot of the time I was like wow I don't how you would find that intentionally. In the old games it was easier because you could just meander the smaller areas. The open world in ER makes that a giant chore. One that I'm not wasting my time with. None of the quests were really that interesting, save for a couple, anyhow.

I say there is no shame in respecting your own time and checking out a guide for that stuff. I'm of the opinion that I want to experience all of what these games have to offer and sometimes I need help with that.

I'm sure at least some of it's been fixed, but some of the bigger quests were busted or not fully implemented on launch. So, I only completed a few of the bigger ones. I definitely looked up how to start a couple of them though. I don't think there's anything wrong with looking up quest tips if you don't want to miss something. It sure beats replaying a 100+ hour game.

There's a sick part of me that would at least like to try another run for an intelligence/faith build, because my current is more based on dexterity...

I started an NPC quest run with the checklist in hand. I messed it up at Lingrave and then decided this was a terrible way to play. And I never did like having to summon NPCs for fights to advance their stories.

I did D's stuff. I think.

The only one worth seeing all the way through is Blaidd/Ranni's questline. Those two merge and make for a pretty neat conclusion. The rest of the NPCs aren't worth chatting with. Kill them on the spot.

I took almost 9 months off from the game and got the itch to re-install it, download some mods, and give the game another go. I managed to get the "Age of the Stars" ending. It's done by seeing Ranni's questline all the way to completion and summoning her after the final boss fight.

Since I cannot edit an old post.......

Another one worth seeing all the way to the end is Hyetta's questline. It'll lock you into a certain ending. It's my second favorite.

Like all of the other Souls games, figuring out what to do in any given quest and discovering where the quest giver has gone kinda sucks. I play those games for the variety in character builds, the cool weapons, the fun combat, the awesome bosses, and the amazing atmosphere and locations you get to visit.

I finished the Ranni questline and got her ending. That's about it, I don't think I've ever done any other side quest in any Souls game. This didn't matter to me all that much in the three Souls games, but I feel like Elden Ring sorely needs a quest log. I'd be so much more interested if the game gave some more hints about where to go and what to do.

I think the quest unlike what most say, are actually really good. Unlike the check list feeling go into menu to check, waypoint stuff, I think elden ring makes the world feel lived in. Like the people in it are carrying on with their lives kinda like shenmue but modern. You run into them in the weridest places if you dont follow a quest marker and it makes going to random spots to check something out more fun as you run into them.

I will say souls has been like this, so i get new players, since elden ring is the most easy and assessable, thinking this is trash as it's so off from more mainstream games where the map vomits and you get to know exactly what to do. Not a bad thing either, sometimes i like just pressing a button and going to a point to do a set event then logging out. No reason one's better than the other. Elden ring can feel aimless if you dont set up your own fun as well sometimes. Heard so many call it out for being bad cause it's empty and hard for hard sake and lacks as my friend put it anything to do after a hour cause it's repetitive lol as they go to play league of legends daily. XD.

Yeah this one is more frustrating than most of the Souls games because there's so much you can absolutely miss unless you consult a walkthrough as you're going. Like there's no way someone would know the blow a whistle in a specific spot to spawn the werewolf dude unless you were told that, right? Just a weird game.

Still need to finish it!

@rorie: I didn't use a guide and found the werewolf dude on my own. One of the other NPCs mentions his location and gives you the gesture needed to bring him over. It's a bit esoteric and you need to pay pretty close attention but it does give you the info you need. I kind of like that it doesn't hold your hand. Makes the world seem that much more mysterious and it's pretty rewarding when you discover it on your own.

I should clarify. When I say "a quest log", I don't think something that blankly tells you exactly what to do and puts a great big waypoint over your next destination is what Elden Ring (or any From Soft game) needs. However, a list of different quests that are going on and the last thing that happened in that quest, or a log of whatever was said, would be real nice. There's a middle ground between treating the player like an incompetent buffoon and expecting them to keep a pen-and-paper around while playing and I'd really appreciate it if open world game developers could find it.

If some players really don't want to play this way, From Software could implement a way to toggle it off when you start a new game. They could make it some kind of item that you have to find early in the game or make it one of the gifts you can get when you start the game or whatever, that way people who don't want this can skip it and people who do have a way to get it and From Software doesn't sacrifice their "no blatant difficulty toggles" rule.

Ultimately I did really enjoy Elden Ring, but I'm not really into referring to Wikis and/or keeping track of anything externally.

Yeah a dialogue log would've been helpful without feeling like it was holding your hand. Also, when the game first came out they didn't even mark NPCs on the map; I was using map pins for NPCs I came across. One day I loaded up the game and it had updated to add in NPC markers on the map. Not even having NPC markers in the first place was a poor decision.