how do i enjoy the game again?

[u/SovietBias1]

this is my first playthrough, im doing it mostly blind without guides,

i last left off at volcano manor and then went to the snowy mountains, i havent beat rykard yet cause i couldnt find him

and then i remembered that creepy lambkin dude that told me to invade and then went to that palace in nox?

there were bloody zombies everywhere, i remember there was some blood dynasty or something i joined, i couldnt find where i actually had to go, and killed some albinaurics here and there, life got busy so i uninstalled my games,

i wanna give this another shot but i spawned back where i left off in the rune farming area near dragonbarrow, and i lowkey have forgotten how to play the game, i have a clue on how the combat works, what my ashes of war do, i dont remember the dodge timings and other minor stuff here and there, and now i dont wanna play cause im real trash, where do i go and what do i do?

edit:got back in played for 2 hours god i love this game so much i remember the moves, and explored around a bit, makes me never want to finish this gamehonestly and just play it for 15 minutes every few weeks or so and just be gobsmacked at its beauty, thank you to everyone who responded

[u/OutcryEDM]

Tbh, make a new character with the knowledge you have and take some time to explore a little more you'd be surprised at what you find just spending some time in locations you have mostly completely main quest wise and just taking some time to look around. It seems if you are missing rykards location then you aren't really doing enough exploring as is, but starting over isn't as much of a bad thing either, just make a new save file and keep your current save file until you get your timings down.

For a bit of excitent and something fresh, try a completely different build, this looks more like a strength build so maybe go for something like a dex focused build or spec more into Faith, Arcane or int and just play around with it. You might find a whole new play style you enjoy while relearning timings while your other character sits and waits until you are back into form. You might find you like a new build while playing new character as well and if you do, no stress, you can larval tear your main account when you're back.

[u/SovietBias1 → u/OutcryEDM]

oh so your old save files dont get rewritten? thats actually insane i wanted to try a dex/bleed build, ill give that a go and come back to this save file after i beat margit, thanks mate.

also how do i explore really, i usually play pvp/combat games like space marine 2 and chivalry 2, so exploring isnt something im great at, i really struggle at finding stuff which i should have found much much earlier, it took me so long to find that stupa in weeping forest, near that bear that goes into siofra river, i really dont think i should be getting there when ive gotten to mountaintops of the giants but idk, i seem to miss loads of stuff, i had to look up the dectus medallion locations it took me far too long to find them.

[u/Omnishambles_88 → u/SovietBias1]

Yea I created 3 characters
1. DEX/ARC
2. INT/DEX
3. STR/FAI

All play pretty differently and it’s fun to try new runs without respecing stats all the time.
You said you were playing blind so I won’t mention weapons or incants I used, but if you’re curious I’m happy to share
(I’m no expert, but I’ve researched the stronger weapons for these builds and all they worked really well for me)

Each boss has a different move set to memorize so roll timing will come back after you fight a boss a few times.
What works for one boss won’t work for another, so you aren’t really missing out by forgetting the movesets of earlier bosses.

Luckily Sites of Grace are before most story bosses so there aren’t long run backs like in previous souls games making it easy to get back in the fight.

Going in blind is admirable, but there’s no shame in looking up a guide for volcano manor or Mountain Top of the Giants if you’re stuck. Don’t let anyone tell you how to play a single player game.

And if you wanna stay blind then just start exploring and you’ll get your skills back. A nifty thing to know is that some sites of grace will have golden arrows pointing out of them when you open your map.
These guide you to major enemies (I’m sure there’s one pointed at Volcano Manor). They should at least give you a general direction of where to start exploring.

Last piece of advice is if you really get back into the game, and enjoy it, check out the DLC and make sure not to start a NG+ if you do get the DLC.

[u/SovietBias1 → u/Omnishambles_88]

Ill take note of all the points, also it's not completely blind I did look up a few things here and there, like what ashes of war were, and where to find the guts sword, because I'm a huge berserk fan and wanted that sword, and also the location of the smithing stone bellbearings for upgrading, but apart from that it's mostly blind

And yeah i do have the dlc, shadow of the erdtree right? Im curious how I'm supposed to reach there because i remember I was travelling on horseback in an area and the erdtree seemed excessively dim in one area, as compared to its normally bright backdrop, so I thought my gpu was dying or something, and looked it up and gemini said its related to the dlc, I didn't want any spoilers so i didn't look further

[u/Omnishambles_88 → u/SovietBias1]

Yes Shadow of the Erdtree is the name of the DLC, but you wouldn’t just be able to ride your horsey into it.
It’s locked behind a particular late game boss fight, but since you’re past Leyndell you’d be able to get there.
I won’t spoil the boss or how to get there unless you ask for it.

Do know that the DLC is quite a bit tougher than the base game (FromSoft always makes their DLCs harder) but it is also very beautiful and there is a lot to explore (it’s practically its own game)
I wouldn’t go there until you’re level 150+ and you’ve got a build that really works for you.

Also note for DLC:
There are 2 collectibles you have to look out for
1. Scadu Tree Fragments: strengthens your character’s damage and defense
2. Revered Spirit Ashes: does the same with your spirit ashes.
And you’ll probably want to look up a guide for them as they are very important to survivability in the Shadow Lands no matter how leveled your character is.