3 crucial mistakes 'Elden Ring' newcomers should avoid to maximize the fun

If you bought Elden Ring because your friends are talking about it, you might be wondering when it will get fun.

The early hours of From Software's newest masterpiece are a good deal more friendly than the developer's previous games, but there is still a lot of learning to do. Elden Ring aggressively tries to teach the player some important lessons right out of the gate, but based on my social feeds and group chats, it doesn't seem like everything is landing as it should.

If you want to enjoy Elden Ring as much as everyone else, you should avoid some important mistakes, which can be easily corrected if you step into them.

Don’t bang your head against fights you can’t win

These giants are huge jerks and sometimes it's best to just avoid them. Credit: From Software/Steam

Elden Ring is a game that I encourage people to play at their own pace. The game has a lot of flexibility in how you can dress up and play in the open world. I don't have to control how anyone plays it, but I wouldn't want to.

I want people to have fun, but it's hard to find fun when you spend hours trying to win a fight. The most common example of this is the Tree Sentinel. If you missed him, he's the big gold-armored jerk on a horse patrolling outside the cave you emerge from at the start of the game.

This may feel counterintuitive because most mainstream games don't operate like this, but the Tree Sentinel is there to tell you not to fight everything. You have to abandon your instincts and assume that there is no obstacle that will show up next to the starting area. Yes, From did that. You can beat him later on, of course, but it's not worth your time until you figure out a better strategy.

If you run until he gives up the chase, you can easily avoid Tree Sentinel, but he can be easily avoided by going around his area either to the left or right. You will be surprised by how often Elden Ring allows you to slip past enemies just by sprinting or riding a horse. Combat is optional more often than you think. If you are overmatched, find another way.

Don’t ignore the little guidance you get

Stormveil Castle is an early point of interest if you follow the grace lines. Credit: From Software/Steam

The first Site of Grace checkpoint is right outside the tutorials cave, and you will probably first notice him from the vantage point. There is a glowing line of light coming out of the Site of Grace, which points to the left of the arena. The icon on the map shows this. You can find a merchant with another Site of Grace at the church, pointing north.

You will have a horse and the ability to take on Margit, who everyone on the internet hates, if you follow these lines. Margit is too powerful to beat that early in the game, which is from Software's way of telling you to go explore the world, power up, and come back later.

The waypoint lines are useful in the game, but they don't tell you where to go. They guide you towards major points of interest, some of which you will be ready to take on, and some of which you won't. If you want, you can also explore the side activities off the beaten path. If you run into an angry brick wall along the way, remember that they are always there if you need an idea of where to go next.

Don’t fret about dying

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The main source of Elden Ring's difficulty is that every enemy and boss can kill you fast. The game carries more weight because you have to drop your supply of runes to upgrade your character and buy items. If you die on the way to the site of your death, the runes will be lost for good.

This adds a layer of risk to everything you do that can make you feel timid and risk-averse when you approach Elden Ring. If you have enough runes to level up, you should do that before doing anything else. Let go and stop caring about losing them. There are so many ways to get runes back, not to mention the fact that any level-appropriate boss will give you enough to level up two or three times if you kill them.

Each death in Elden Ring should be seen as a source of information. If you study what happened and make adjustments, dying is very productive in this game. Sometimes that means changing how you dodge an attack and sometimes that means going in a different direction because you can't deal with it right now.

dying is funnier than not. Elden Ring is a slapstick delivery mechanism. The boss fights are similar to the Jackass bullfighting sketch, except after 30 tries Johnny Knoxville actually wins.

I promise Elden Ring will become more fun if you learn to laugh at your failures.