Game needs objective tracking

[Creomortis]

I'm so lost right now, I've been up and down the starter areas with no idea where to go next.

I feel like I've been doing stuff in a completely random order, I have multiple quest items but no idea what quest chain they relate to or their npcs.

I'm missing npcs and killing bosses that they would have requested me to kill or get items they would have requested.

The arrows of grace on the map apparently don't matter because they remain even if objectives are cleared.

I hate having to google so often to figure out what to do in this game. Come on, there's magic in this game and they can't create a journal???

[Fineous🔥]

Read the item description.....give it a go. Oh also pay attention (if possible) to everything NPCs say....or are you killing them? nevermind lets not go there.

Good luck champ, some of us beat the game before any guide was created, im sure you can do the same! RIGHT?.....

[vamirez]

The arrows of grace point at different story points, which you may or may not yet be able to beat. Exploration is key - try to collect map pieces, then look at the map and investigate everything you see. The map shows more details than one may think. If you do this, you will miss much less stuff. Try to make up a system for yourself.

As for a "journal" - there are info items and key items in your inventory that you can look at. But also, make a note yourself on paper if you need it. This is an oldschool game with a ton of very oldschool mechanisms.

And also - some community interaction has always been a part of Souls games. If you don't want to use a wiki, ask questions here - people will help you :)

[Bullwark]

The grace arrows matter a lot! They show you...where to go ;)!

This game relies heavily on environmental story telling with the crucial addition of "hiding" story elements in item descriptions. Plus npcs tell also tell you important things ;)! So it's all there!!
When you understand that, I think this game is pretty straight forward...in a twisted and cryptic way XD!

A little journal would be handy to re-read some dialogues, I agree. Sometimes I didn't understand or accidentally clicked away a line here and there...but it was still possible to finish most questlines without the help of any guides.
Guides ruin the fun and exploration...some quests are still possible after you beat the game.

Don't rush it! Keep your eyes and ears open!

[Drunkenstylz]

The idea of the game is mostly no markers, no quest log and some cryptic NPC dialog and motives. The world is build in a way that makes you a nobody (of course you are the main character and become elden lord) and people have their own motives and the world changes without telling you how.

It is optional where you go next, what NPC you care about, what you want to remember/mark or write down and it made me love the game so much more than an exploded map of markers and exposition dialogs and cutscenes

[vian]

You're the reason The Elder scrolls have map markers and fast travel these days.

[Nocxii]

Not agreeing with OP for the main quest, since the game throws you plenty of hints of what to do and where to go.

But NPC quests could definitely use some UX, you aint finding those NPCs without a guide if they moved to an area you already been to and have no reason to return to.

[Yal]

Originally posted by Creomortis:

I'm so lost right now, I've been up and down the starter areas with no idea where to go next.

The gist of it basically is,
- If you feel strong enough, follow the grace indication to get to the big boss of the area
- If not, go find some random ruins and overworld bosses to conquer, then use the runes + equipment to get stronger

Your ultimate end goal is to get to the big golden tree in the far north, and you'll need to get at least two Great Runes to gain access, and there's 5 possible bosses you can get them from. All that freedom of choice gets more fun on repeat playthroughs when you try stuff out of order and see what you can get away with! If you don't know where to go it helps just setting a random goal, pick some cool landmark off in the distance and go there and see what you'll find (you can go to literally everything you can see in the game, except the sunken ships off the coast)

A good starting point is getting all the map fragments, the obelisks where they're located are indicated on the blank pieces of the map when you get close enough. All buildings, graveyards, evergoals etc are indicated on the map so just look for interesting landmarks to check out. If something on the map looks weird, chances are good there's something to loot there.

Picking a build and figuring out WHAT to level up is a bit tricky on your first run, so I would recommend focusing on HP and equip load early on, and when you find some REALLY cool weapon you wanna mess around with, start working on getting the stats required to use it and then stick with that. Faith both has the visually coolest spells and extra healing so it's a good choice if you're struggling, and Strength gives you access to the biggest shields (which also makes the game easier) so they're both solid choices.

[Creomortis]

Some good responses in here.

I ended up just googling the order of areas I should visit, no guides but just a pointer in the general direction, which has helped immensely. I think the fact that the grace arrows remained after clearing an area was really throwing me off!

I've cleared stormhill, visited rannis tower and cleared the starter areas and I'm off to redmane castle.

Funnily enough I keep picking up a ridiculous amount of spells and memory slots but I have yet to use any magic at all. My stats are 31 vigor with 16 end 24str 23dex and I typically summon oleg for fights and I'm not finding it too difficult, I'm 2 handing a bloodhound fang. I've picked up so many weapons it became a bit overwhelming so I stuck to the one I've upgraded. The majority of the difficulty came from me not realising load affects the dodge mechanic... my god that was an epiphany. I was running around heavy load constantly for most of my time playing and now it feels significantly easier haha.

I still think a journal of npc interactions would be useful because my memory isn't great to begin with.

With regards to the previous souls games, I played the first one on release and partially the second one before I just didn't have time to game anymore. I bought 3 but never played it.

edit: forgot to say thanks for the responses

[CazadorDeLobo]

Here to say, I'm ashamed of AAA games and those they've brainwashed. The "objectives" and "quests" are just things you come across. If you go to an area you've never been to, it should not be hard to figure out that you're supposed to be there, so you can be assaulted by enemies, blabbered to by a non-critical NPC, or kill the boss.

The majority of people played and finished this without this hand holding you're requesting.

[CazadorDeLobo]

Originally posted by Nocxii:

Not agreeing with OP for the main quest, since the game throws you plenty of hints of what to do and where to go.

But NPC quests could definitely use some UX, you aint finding those NPCs without a guide if they moved to an area you already been to and have no reason to return to.

I don't agree for the most part. The rewards and content are minimal.

[Creomortis]

Originally posted by CazadorDeLobo:

Here to say, I'm ashamed of AAA games and those they've brainwashed. The "objectives" and "quests" are just things you come across. If you go to an area you've never been to, it should not be hard to figure out that you're supposed to be there, so you can be assaulted by enemies, blabbered to by a non-critical NPC, or kill the boss.

The majority of people played and finished this without this hand holding you're requesting.

Are you sure? The other responses said this was a community driven game. I didn't ask for hand holding I asked for tracking,
I'm an older gamer now. I'm almost 40 and I've played games since I was a little kid. My first computer was a zx spectrum, I played on atari, commodore etc. I'm used to figuring stuff out for myself but I found this game lacking in areas of game design and ui. I worked in the games industry for 15 years so I have a ridiculous amount of experience with this kind of stuff. Let me give you more perspective, I've worked on from concept to launch on over 50 games, the majority being AAA titles which you may have even played yourself. I don't advertise it but your comment pissed me off.

Your response was extremely condescending with a better than thou attitude, gamers like you are the problem today I think.

[BIGDOJO]

why not just keep a notebook next to you and write things down?

another option is before you start talking with an npc, use your phone to start recording the conversation so you don't miss anything and can replay the convo later.

[Sparhawk 59]

This may help a little
https://www.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/comments/tjmodv/all_npc_interactions_in_elden_ring/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

[Creomortis]

Originally posted by BIGDOJO:

why not just keep a notebook next to you and write things down?

another option is before you start talking with an npc, use your phone to start recording the conversation so you don't miss anything and can replay the convo later.

Yeah, you only realise this is needed after playing unfortunately.

[Creomortis]

Originally posted by Sparhawk 57:

This may help a little
https://www.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/comments/tjmodv/all_npc_interactions_in_elden_ring/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

Amazing link, thank you. I will refer to it if I get stuck, I have a general idea of what areas to visit from my previous googling. I think I was worried about skipping or missing stuff before.