Am I supposed to clear the first area before moving on?

[Brunn]

So I finally got this game after dropping the first Dark Souls and forgetting the series for years, and I must say I'm really impressed by the gameplay. I didn't understand however, if the player is supposed to kill enemies in the first area or just scroll throught it.

The knights seem impossible to kill at this time, and I eventually managed to clear the army encampment although every single mob respawns once I load the game or die. Should I just move on through the passage north of the encampment or is clearing the whole area (including the knights) part of the challenge?

[Toad]

Elden Ring differs from the previous Souls series by allowing you to progress however you like. There are very little brick walls in the game in terms of progression, so you are left to tackle things at your own pace and skill level.

If anything in the game is absolutely wrecking you, place a marker on the map and come back later. Also don't be afraid to grab any loot you find and just leg it out of there. There is loads of optional content to find that will help increase your gear, spells, flasks etc, so I would recommend having a search around, but again don't beat your head against a hard encounter just for the sake of it.

[Dragon]

There is something in the ruins worth getting as treasure. Beyond that it is just one of the first "hard" areas of the game.

[ace_mon0 (REAPERS)]

Originally posted by Brn:

So I finally got this game after dropping the first Dark Souls and forgetting the series for years, and I must say I'm really impressed by the gameplay. I didn't understand however, if the player is supposed to kill enemies in the first area or just scroll throught it.

The knights seem impossible to kill at this time, and I eventually managed to clear the army encampment although every single mob respawns once I load the game or die. Should I just move on through the passage north of the encampment or is clearing the whole area (including the knights) part of the challenge?

If you want to? This is an open world game so If you want to run to the North, south, east or west of the map go for it. Do what you want to enjoy the game.

[Brunn]

Originally posted by Toad:

Elden Ring differs from the previous Souls series by allowing you to progress however you like. There are very little brick walls in the game in terms of progression, so you are left to tackle things at your own pace and skill level.

If anything in the game is absolutely wrecking you, place a marker on the map and come back later. Also don't be afraid to grab any loot you find and just leg it out of there. There is loads of optional content to find that will help increase your gear, spells, flasks etc, so I would recommend having a search around, but again don't beat your head against a hard encounter just for the sake of it.

Yeah I guess it just made me confused that the first area was that brutal, after hearing the praise Dark Souls gets for it's difficulty I didn't know if that was part of the experience or not. I'll give other areas a try first.

[DUKE NUKEM]

there are no rules in elden ring baby. you can do aaaaanthing you want

[Arthur Morrigan]

You're suppose to methodically explore everything in a grid and only move on once you're confident you've found everything.

[SHOCKNUTZ]

https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Game+Progress+Route

you don't have to read too into it if you don't want to. but it's good to have to go over in case you think you may have missed something, or are trying to figure out how to get somewhere.

[Rue]

It can certainly be confusing at times, but the general idea is to explore Limgrave, avoiding Stormhill and the castle until you're at a level where you feel confident slaying the knights around the area, then heading down south towards the weeping peninsula. There are a lot of interactions with mobs that you're not meant to face early on, like the Tree Sentinel near the first grace, and the evergaols scattered around.

[RyuKazé]

If you do that, you'll be there awhile. I left and got some better weapons from other regions and came back to clear Limgrave, easier said than done. Some bosses only spawn at night which I never took into account (Night Cavalry, Death Bird). Just explore and listen the npc's telling you where to go.

[MisterPool]

Originally posted by Brn:

...and I eventually managed to clear the army encampment although every single mob respawns once I load the game or die. Should I just move on through the passage north of the encampment or is clearing the whole area (including the knights) part of the challenge?

They will also respawn if you rest at a site of grace. Basically everything but bosses respawn. Once you kill a boss it stays gone, it's lair is no longer instanced, and you'll get a teleport point back to the entrance or a tunnel further into the caves. Field bosses just stay gone.

Don't worry about the knights (or any other tough mob) if you can't take them out right away. It's just the game's way of saying you need to level up and come back later.

[Sparhawk 59]

The devs made it so you can move on get better and up your stats then come back and fight the harder elemts of the game. It is in fact genius compared to other souls were you had to defeat hard bosses to move on.

[Anatolius]

umm... Limgrave is the easiest area, there really isn't any other location for you to start from.
I'd say go for stealth approach while you're still new and weak, that's what i did with that first encampment at stormhill. You can also just zip through when you get torrent, not a big deal really. Castle will be more difficult for sure.