Elden Ring is filled with many interesting NPCs and many side quests are designed around their stories. One questline, involving Ranni the Witch, is required to trigger one of Elden Ring’s endings. This quest is fairly long, and it will take players through multiple optional areas. Players who follow this questline will also earn one of the most iconic weapons from FromSoftware’s previous games.
FromSoftware has now released patch 1.03 for Elden Ring, and it comes with a big list of changes. It’s a massive update that introduces several balance changes, including nerfs to Mimic Tear and some overpowered weapons like the Sword of Night and Flame. Furthermore, NPCs are now marked on the map, so players will have a clear idea of their location, instead of aimlessly wandering around in the large regions of Elden Ring. This update also adds more phases to the questlines of certain NPCs.
New phases have been added to the questlines of the following Elden Ring NPCs:
- Diallos
- Nepheli Loux
- Kenneth Haight
- Gatekeeper Gostoc
These NPCs are all from the beginning of Elden Ring. Players can start the Diallos questline from the Roundtable Hold, and they will encounter both Nepheli Loux and Gatekeeper Gostoc at Stormveil Castle. It looks like all of these NPCs are easily accessible, as Kenneth can also be found in the opening region Limgrave.
Additionally, update 1.03 adds a new NPC named Jar-Bairn, and Diallos' questline is reportedly related to this NPC. Nepheli’s and Kenneth’s stories are seemingly interconnected, and Gostoc now reportedly sells an endgame item. It should be noted that players may miss out on these new questlines depending upon their progress and the decisions taken throughout the game. Side quests in Elden Ring often give out extremely powerful items, and players should try and complete every NPC’s questline.
Despite its massive size, a majority of Elden Ring is optional. It’s packed with content, and players may discover new areas even after playing the game for 70 hours, but the critical path is relatively short. Using specific weapons and strategies, some speedrunners were able to complete Elden Ring in just over 30 minutes. Some of these tactics have now been nerfed in Patch 1.03, so it’ll be interesting to see how the speedrunning community reacts to these changes. It will be fair to expect new tactics to come up within a day or two that perhaps allow players to finish Elden Ring even faster.
Elden Ring is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.