Do not ‘Try Jumping’: a beginner’s reference to Elden Ring messages
As a seasoned Souls lover, I’ve just gotten my head around the series’ more obscure quirks. It can be easy to forget how weird and wonderful some of the basic elements of these games are. One feature that can be a stumbling block for some novice players is the messaging system.
Players can choose from a set of patterns and words to create small notes that appear on the ground in other players’ worlds. The original purpose appears to have been to encourage collaboration, an in-game form of tip-sharing and playground speculation. However, the real, time-tested messaging feature is a vehicle for crap.
Over the years, players have discovered countless ways to mislead, mislead, and hack with FromSoft’s limited templates. My favorite has always been the messages of support people have left for skeletons telling stories about the environment in Dark Souls 2: “Don’t give up, skeleton!” and variations of them spread throughout Drangleic.
For the uninitiated who are still jumping off cliffs and slashing walls at the behest of strangers in Elden Ring, I’ve compiled some of the most common pranks, jokes, and really helpful messages I’ve seen.
You almost never want to try to jump. If you see such a message before a steep drop, it will be a joke on you. You will fall to your death, and someone will laugh at you, figuratively speaking.
One useful hint is that you are not in one of the rare places where is a something hidden under the ledge is a massive pile of bloodstains nearby (meaning the players died here recently). The message timed out in the next screenshot, but you can see the bloodstains left by a lot of gullible fools” Beware the Chest” or “Liar Ahead.”
The Souls series has a glorious tradition of facial expressions: monsters masquerading as treasure chests that often have the ability to kill you in one hit if you try to open them by surprise. A single weapon strike will usually detect the mimic and allow you to fight it like a normal enemy. I haven’t encountered them in Elden Ring yet, but watch out for messages and bloodstains in front of the chests. Like the inscrutable old NES RPGs, the Souls series has long featured secret paths disguised as normal wall sections that can be opened with a wave of a weapon or by pressing the action button. You just need to know where to look.
I’m still only a few hours in Elden Ring, but I have yet to find one secret door for all the messages pointing to them. It’s been a tradition for years among players to place false notices of hidden paths in front of suspicious-looking but ultimately normal sections of walls, but Elden Ring players have really pushed this to the limit.
Luckily, Elden Ring has completely eliminated the weapon degradation seen in previous games. The only cost of checking a tiled wall is a small amount of time and perhaps a bit of dignity. Over time, you will probably develop the ability to determine which cues pass the sniff test without being tested.
“Beware of the Strong Enemy” I have always believed that warnings about difficult enemies can be trusted. This, in particular, suggested to me the upcoming boss battle. Say hello to the guy next to him who just built something different. “Weak opponent ahead,” indeed.
“Precious Item Ahead Most of the treasure messages I’ve come across have also been true in my experience, but Elden Ring has introduced a new saucy prank message tactic.
Messages now glow white and protrude slightly from the ground, making them look like items, especially when hidden or at a distance. So far, I’ve only seen a few joke messages hidden behind drawers – just where FromSoftware likes to hide items. I could see an enterprising prankster going to great lengths to forge an item behind traps or in a room full of dangerous enemies. In my book, this is absolutely a feature, not a bug.
Gross abuse of the messaging system using a homophone for a sexually explicit message. It has no place in an inspiring family game like Elden Ring.
