Is the Sphinx even worth it?

[Adam__86]

Watched a guide on the Sphinx and it kind of left me thinking is it even worth it. The riddles themselves are not really riddles, instead obscure busywork that requires Google to avoid insanity (which isn't good design), The rewards are also pretty mediocre with the exception of maybe two items (which I believe can be obtained elsewhere). Does doing the Sphinx affect the story?

[1CMF]

Does not affect story, it is just a "fun encounter", and I enjoyed the break from the core of the game to see something different. Is it "worth" it? Depends on your motivators. Nothing is "worth" it, but it could be "fun" if you enjoy it.

I guess if you live your life based on external rewards and dependent on personal gain, not a lot of things are worth it.

[Butcher]

The only free way to get additional portcrystals after the first playthrough.

[Jamation]

Sphinx is a separate entity/zone from all other quests - including side quests. You could potentially do every other quest and never come across the sphinx and be no worse off for it.

So, no impact on the story.

[Louis Cypher]

Sphinx is one of the best waifus I have seen

[Random Zero Gravity]

Yes it does include in apart of story or game play, at least for me. Hint on the big golden chest and the purpose for it, if you still wants to avoid spoiler. Also, yes, you can open both those golden chest to get both items providing someone else give you the additional key.

[Adam__86]

Originally posted by 1CMF:

Does not affect story, it is just a "fun encounter", and I enjoyed the break from the core of the game to see something different. Is it "worth" it? Depends on your motivators. Nothing is "worth" it, but it could be "fun" if you enjoy it.

I guess if you live your life based on external rewards and dependent on personal gain, not a lot of things are worth it.

Carrot on a stick is important

Had the riddles themselves looked fun I would agree but they're essentially just fetch and carry quests with no markers or clear objective. So if ultimately looked like 'somthing to kill time don't for the sake of killing time'

[D. Flame]

No. Just do the first two or so to get the port crystal, the. Ignore the rest.

[1CMF]

Originally posted by Adam__86:

Originally posted by 1CMF:

Does not affect story, it is just a "fun encounter", and I enjoyed the break from the core of the game to see something different. Is it "worth" it? Depends on your motivators. Nothing is "worth" it, but it could be "fun" if you enjoy it.

I guess if you live your life based on external rewards and dependent on personal gain, not a lot of things are worth it.

Carrot on a stick is important

Had the riddles themselves looked fun I would agree but they're essentially just fetch and carry quests with no markers or clear objective. So if ultimately looked like 'somthing to kill time don't for the sake of killing time'

Fair, it is a waste of time in the big picture.

But I am playing this game to waste time I guess, not be efficient. I got tired of carrot on a stick from my MMO days and I try to be an intrinsic motivator now and do things for me, not for perceived rewards. I mean, not to get too deep here.

[Adam__86]

Originally posted by Stunlock:

Originally posted by Adam__86:

Watched a guide on the Sphinx and it kind of left me thinking is it even worth it. The riddles themselves are not really riddles, instead obscure busywork that requires Google to avoid insanity (which isn't good design), The rewards are also pretty mediocre with the exception of maybe two items (which I believe can be obtained elsewhere). Does doing the Sphinx affect the story?

LMAO if you think the rewards here are mediocre you should probably just not buy.

Sphinx gives out tons of cash, portcrystals, xp ring, and more AND dupes anything you want in the game. If you already know how to solve the riddles in advance you can get the first 6 riddles all on the first visit to her, as well as a ride to the new location for the later riddles. There are several seekers tokens quite close to her first nest. The problem is between the sphinx and just buying endgame gear, theres almost no good loot even in this game.

Also could say the same to your opinions on the quests. Obscure busywork that requires google to avoid insanity describes like 95% of the quests in this game.

Do you like to grind in ARPGs? This game might be alright for you, otherwise skip or wait for DLC/sale.

I mean gold and experience is literally thrown at you. The portcrystal is really the only thing of value. The normal quests are not obscure, there is literal markers on your map, not stupid bs like "Remember the location of your first seeker token". Also there really isn't much need to grind in this game so IDK why you think otherwise

[Knavery]

Originally posted by Adam__86:

Watched a guide on the Sphinx and it kind of left me thinking is it even worth it. The riddles themselves are not really riddles, instead obscure busywork that requires Google to avoid insanity (which isn't good design), The rewards are also pretty mediocre with the exception of maybe two items (which I believe can be obtained elsewhere). Does doing the Sphinx affect the story?

It's worth it for the extra portacrystal, the eternal wakestone (which you can duplicate via forgery), and the three ferrystones. You also get a good chunk of gold when you meet her in the second place. Read up on how to solve them and try to do it as efficiently as possible so you don't end up travelling back and fourth or using up ferrystones.

[Miyagi]

The sphinx is worth it to do one time in my opinion if you are a completionist (achievements, etc) but after that I would just do enough to duplicate an item and then kill her to get the eternal wakestone which is clutch if you get struck by dragonblight.

[SadPlatty©]

If you looked everything up and still don't know - it isn't worth it.

The Eternal Wakestone isn't really that worth it unless your crippled with fear of Dragonplague, as it is one of the only reason to use it (at least for me so far), but also requires solving all riddles - including the fight.

Additional Portstone is personal preference - I ended my first run with extras even (1 at elf village, 1 at Battahl, 1 at Volc Island camp); if you define what your objectives are, there will be less reason for example to place one outside the Medusa lair for too long, as you only need 1 head for 1 quest, and can move it once acquired.

Otherwise - if you want a more hard-core game, you can get a ring that 0s out your damage? Only other thing of value that you may not even use because of how it works is the Sealing Vessel that lets you store an NPC in your backpack (single-use).

[The Debauchery]

Originally posted by Adam__86:

Carrot on a stick is important

I'd rather they do away with carrot-on-a-stick much of the time.
Plenty of things I like to do because they're fun.... but the moment the developers involve unique loot / collectibles, it becomes an obligation, which is decidedly un-fun.
That was one of the things I utterly hated about Elden Ring. Every single place was riddled with unique & missable loot that wasn't available anywhere else... so I had to walk about with my nose to the ground looking for it rather than admiring the scenery. It felt more like a strictly controlled guided tour through North Korea than actual exploration.

Anyways.... the motivation for going to see the Sphinx is to take screenshots of you climbing on her tiddies.