How I Learned to Love Elden Ring
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- Опубліковано 20 кві 2024
- I've got kind of a weird relationship with Elden Ring; you guys mind if I talk about it for a minute or two?
After 150 hours of Elden Ring, I was sad that I just couldn't see what everyone else saw in this game. So I started the process of making a video to discuss that, only for parts of Elden Ring to begin to click as I played the game past the 150 hour mark. So I made the call to do one final playthrough, and make a video on whatever I felt on the other end of that playthrough.
This video ended up being one part analysis of how I think Elden Ring works, and one part narration of my journey through experiencing how Elden Ring works.
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I feel like by elden ring, people are accustomed to fromsoft enough that we forget that in these games the defining ability of the character is: they are immortal. Being immortal is the super power, like eating dragon souls in skyrim or being fast in sonic the hedgehog. Its easy to forget because we are also sort of immortal in most games cause...saves. But if you approach a fromsoft game with the understanding that your main ability is Not Staying Dead, the "punishment" becomes more like the steps to feeling out a puzzle and much more palatable.
True, people tend to disconnect from their mortality in most games and therefore their immortality in others. A sound point.
Statues of marika, close Grace or just using cheat engine to warp to fog gate (fuck renalla).
The real super power is making sure your load times are short
@@poutineausyropderable7108 bro what? Tenalla's boss runback is very short
its like one of those anime where the mc is stuck in a deathloop so he keeps going thru iterations until he gets every movement perfect and it appears to others like he’s just built different when hes actually getting iced thousands of times a day
Now do a video titled:
How I Learned To Level Up My Vigor
For me, it was watching _someone else_ play Bloodborne, and just not die despite a bunch of mistakes.
For the record, I had done at least three playthroughs of 1, 2, Demon's Souls _and_ Bloodborne at the time. Of course, that was well past the point where I was just good enough to enjoy a Fromsoft title _without_ the health boost, so I pretty much just noted it as a curiosity and moved on playing knowing that I was making the game harder than intended, but at least it's a _decision_ now.
@c 0:22 onnerblank5069
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I played glass canon pyromancer on Ds3 and glass canon mage on elden ring, i never leveled up vigor on my first playthrough 😂
Re: the Rennala fight, one thing to consider about the difference between phase 1 and 2 is that lorewise you're literally fighting two different people. Phase 1 is actual Rennala, but phase 2 is a manifestation conjured by Ranni to protect her mother
I've never heard this theory before?
@@robertpayne6781 ranni speaks in the cutscene after you finish phase 1 that explains this
@@robertpayne6781 "Upon my name as Ranni the Witch, Mother's rich slumber shall not be disturbed by thee. Foul trespasser, send word far and wide. Of the last Queen of Caria, Rennala of the Full Moon. And the majesty of the night she conjureth."
it's so weird how everyone is so chill after all that, like everyone just silently understood it was all a big misunderstanding and just let it slide this time.
did not know that.....but if you think about it, makes sense....Jesus...I love this!!!!!
in Berserk, Guts spends a lot of time doing everything he can do to take on all challenges on his own. He becomes inhumanly strong and able to do impossible feats. But time and time again, he is shown that whenever he fights alone he comes out injured, and only by relying on others can he ever stand a chance at success.
For me, Guts' fantasy of winning battles on his own is very appealing. When I play souls games I tend to avoid summoning and such because I really like feeling that I alone accomplished everything. But at the same time, I think souls players can be blind to the message Guts experienced time and time again. Sometimes avoiding help from others will make your success too painful. And plus, sometimes summoning is just a ton of fun.
I thought this video was really incredible, great job!
What I got from guts is he uses every advantage he can get. He doesn’t limit himself he’s all in.
In the context of Elden Ring, that means use everything. Craftables and consumables, spirit summons, ranged, magic and melee.
He does use magic. That’s what the berserk armor is and his transformation.
Guts doesn’t have the pride not to use a trick. He’s just helbent on destroying Demons.
The Goblin Slayer is very similar. Usually works alone but is very resourceful.
Both of those characters would use spirit summons if available to them.
They operate on a total war no rules scenario.
I enjoy the challenge, plus having summons waters down the fight
To answer your question about the corpses formerly known as commanders Niall and O'Neil, the O' part of O'Neil usually would mean "the son of neil" or "descendant of neil" and Niall is a name that eventually became Neil in real life.
The amount of courage and wisdom it takes to admit you are wrong in life (and the internet) then taking the extra step and redoing prior work is ENORMOUS. You are due respect and then some for this video. The "then some" being a subscription from me haha
I love the video, but please, level your vigor
I loved summoning Latenna every chance I got, because getting her summon felt like recruiting an actual companion not just picking up the ashes of a random famous or ordinary guy(s). It's me and her against the whole world!
Latenna and Tiche for me are the best summons bcs I also get this feeling
I had the weirdest experience watching this video, because I couldn't help but recall a random academic paper I read a while back[1]. It was about conversational analysis of echolalia and other communication in autistic kids, and I really liked it because it took the radical approach of going "what if we study these autistic people as if they're.. people!". Specifically, there was a section where a young boy and his mum were talking about an insect that had entered the room: "The sequence culminates then in pure speech and sound play, a vocal, rhythmical duet of consonant variation around the ‘‘bug’’ sounds, starting with Aaron’s ‘‘bug hug’’ in line 229". The key word here being "play": Basically, it was a silly conversation that devolved into Aaron and his mum just being like "bug bug bug bug" as a sort of game. I really love this paper, and others by this same author (Laura Sterponi) because she effectively shows how much we can learn if we literally just analyse autistics as if they are active agents in the world, with their own motives and complex inner worlds, even if our modes of communication seem different. As an autistic scientist, I have a lot of beef with the shortsightedness of a lot of autism research, and people like Sterponi are making good progress in making autism research less ableist in my opinion.
Anyway.
bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug
[1] (Sterponi, Laura & Fasulo, Alessandra. (2010). “How to Go On”: Intersubjectivity and Progressivity in the Communication of a Child with Autism. Ethos. 38. 116 - 142. 10.1111/j.1548-1352.2009.01084.x. )
I don't know what this is doing under an Elden Ring video, but as an autistic psychologist, this was fun to read
Today... We Feast
Edit: Damn... Thane you just made the Rennala first phase sound much more worse
1:05:58 I don't know who this man is, I am a faithful believer of Bug
as someone who spent days bashing my head against the weirdly Ornstein and Smough shaped wall during my first proper playthrough of Dark Souls, which i think permanently altered my problem solving skills in these games, hearing you say that this game administers punishment to tell you you’re not ready yet or youre going the wrong way is really insightful. like maybe its very simple and im just kinda silly but it definitely makes sense as to why i did not like this game when i finally picked it up the first time last year
You see my friend, you're an idiot. A buffoon. A silly goose. Whereas i am an ascended being with true 500 IQ. I beat Ornstein & Smough on my second try, getting stuck there is for the unwashed plebs like you.
I instead made better use of my time by... Being stuck for two days on Undead Burg with the fucking Taurus Demon. Don't ask me why, i just sucked that when i started out.
Soooo I might be the dumbest Souls player ever, because I just fought O&S 168 (I counted) times until I won. And then in Elden Ring, I fought Margitt 74 (I counted) times until I won. I didn't even try other weapons or anything, just brute forced the fights.
And then my husband started telling me about all the cool stuff he was finding in caves and such that I considered that maybe, just maybe, I was playing the game wrong. It just didn't occur to me to go elsewhere. 🤷🏽♀️
@@sharonbebop9460 yeah exactly. like dark souls imbued in me the defining trait that if i keep trying, over and over (and over and over) i will get through eventually. playing elden ring, where that is essentially a terrible way to play, is rewiring the fromsoft part of my brain
I've never had less than 40 vigor before entering Leyndell, and only in the first playthrough did I have less than 60 vigor before Farum Azula/Haligtree (other than a run where I specifically never got more than 40). Watching people who aren't doing challenge runs/speedruns be vigor checked is always painful for me.
When he called his 26 Vigor build “endgame ready”😂
20 vigor is good for 70% of the game
There were multiple moments in endgame boss fights, where I got the impression that the devs somewhat intended for players to have 60 vigor by then because I barely survived certain attacks - Malenias big thrust for example.
@@magoochito Only true for the top 20% of Elden Ring players, the rest usually only play once or never "git gud". As for me, I find I have the most fun in souls-likes if neither I nor the bosses die too fast, and the easiest way to do just that is to have high health and defenses, and no cheese or otherwise OP build.
More vigor means more chances to survive hits means more heals from drink means more time per run to learn patterns
Oh, a fellow player that finished the game without knowing they could use great runes.
I liked the game immediately, though.
I stumbled on it myself was exploring the castle when i found the bridge then on the description of the rune ut mentioned the bridge
I think it’s important that Margit can’t fall out of his arena. He’s designed as an essential skill check of a boss fight, and he has a pretty grand moveset. If he could fall out of the arena, he would do it pretty much every single time and it would just be a joke
Also DJ Peach Cobbler is bae
If u use the jelly summon the boss is doable early on i hit the wall on continued fighting. Believe the boss was beat with jely or skeletons but even if u beat him the banished knoghts each felt like black knights from the first time
More like if he could be cheesed to fall off the arena that’s all a lot of people would ever do, even if it took them longer than it would to just take some time with the moveset to learn how to interact with it.
You know, kinda like using a summon to distract a boss so you can just take free ranged shots into their back.
It makes sense from a lore perspective when you understand he's an illusion made to seem physically real to test us
It's not like there aren't other bosses that actually can be dropped off a cliff in this game, the night's cavalry in calid on the bridge being the one everyone cheeses that way
Ive beaten this game well over 100 times and ive found that the best way to have fun in the game is to RP as a character like you have in this playthrough.
You were not you as a player but Bug the character, determined to RP as this character bug who was determined to kill god as such.
Thats what makes the game fun.
Im currently working on a "Dark Lord Jesus" build who uses thorn based attacks and sorceries along with blood based skills to kill all he comes across and invades all in the most blasphemous way possible to the fingers.
Its a hilarious level 200 RP build that even if i lose the PvP matches its just fun to RP as.
I also have a Pyromaniac build who uses Lava Curved Swords in powerstance and fire/lava based skills.
A Alex Louis Armstrong character who useses spiked caestus with cragblade aow, 99 str and only uses pants for armor.
A Lord of Vigor build who has 99 Vigor 60 Endurance full bullgoat armor, great star weapon with prayerful strike aow and all talismans for maximizing my HP and defenses
I loved the Game Theory video on the rhythm of Dark Souls! I'm sorry to hear it's unlisted, I absolutely loved the way they broke down the fight. I hadn't played a Dark Souls game at the time, and I still haven't played 3, but I'm pretty sure I rewatched that video at least a couple of times. Thanks for reminding me of it, and I'm glad someone else was as affected by it as I was!
I wondered why I couldn't find it again. One of my favorites.
You might be able to find it on Shoddycast, since Austin moved back their after leaving Game Theory but I'm not sure
Tldr the power of friendship is the key to Elden ring ❤
killing that giant dragon everytime has become a sort of ritual for me, i have no idea what her story is, but ive created the tale in my head that shes suffering due to old age and is unable to die except by the hands of a tarnished, who is rejected by death. because of this i get to convince myself im doing a good thing AND get to take that sweet sweet gold
Your stream was my first experience with live streams. Couldn't have asked for a better introduction o7
i will have to watch this later, as I'm still in the middle of playing Elden Ring for the first time. But I'm glad to say it's the one FromSoft game where i can somehow say I'm genuinely having some level of fun with it. At the very least I laugh at mistakes a lot more. I think it's because I know that if I'm struggling with something, i can always move over to something else. I'm not forced to bash my head against something that's brick walling me, i can always invest my time somewhere else and come back to it with a fresh head or different tactics.
I very much get that's not the traditional fromsoft loop, which understandably means it doesn't match what most people are used to. I'm also sure there's probably gonna be stuff that might prove to be "too hard" for me, but. it at least is doing something no other souls game has allowed me to do, and that's feel like I'm possibly learning how to play a little bit better than i ever have. I dont know if I'll ever want to play other fromsoft games because of it, but it's at least nice to make noticable improvements.
Same. I was fighting Melania and just. Kept. Dying. It started to drain my passion for this game. So, I walked away. Killed Maliketh and the rest of the story bosses before Radagon, and went back after watching a good guide. I tried a new skill, and attempted a new tactic. And after a few new tries, I got her! That’s what I love about this game. It gives you such a rush for coming back to challenges with new abilities and conquering them
Get vigor to 50 then level ur wep to 10 or 25 if its not somber- now you got it easy mode!
“Varre’s kind of a vile piece of shit”
That caught me off guard. It’s not wrong, I simply was not expecting it. Good video, I sub(way).
oh my god somebody mentioned enchanted arms. I played that as a kid, got very interested and then very frustrated and quit, and I swear NOBODY I talk to has ever heard of it.
DUUUUDE thank you for making a vid about my favorite game :) my favorite video essayist and my fav game. i am feasting today
A fellow hat enthusiast! When I was trying to convince my best friend to play Elden Ring, I used to tell him I was in it for the hats, and would send him screenshots wearing different hats. The scarab hat was one of them. Your video confirms one thing for me: There are so many ways to play this game, and it's important that you find the way that brings you the most joy.
So glad this video finally came out. I can say that my favourite time on a live stream was the ones done for this video because it lets you interact and connect in a different way than you would with a larger creator.
You’ve earned my subscription. Excellent story-telling. Can’t wait to binge your videos on my drive to work and see all your future videos.
Your description of Rennala's first phase is hands down the best
Puts that fight into an interesting, new light
I'm gonna finish the video later but man it's been amazing so far
Wow. Beautiful video man. Your Elden Ring run ended up being so much more wholesome than I expected and it was lovely. Great work on this analysis.
i saw one of your videos literally minutes ago saying you where working on some elden ring, i looked it up and never found it... boy how lucky i am
nice profile pic
I had a ton of fun in Elden Ring. The enemies did very little damage, and it was pretty easy...
I had 80 vigor.
been waiting to see this one for awhile, good stuff man :) had a really great time with the streams and engaging in some jolly cooperation!
Great video. I spent more hours than I want to share collecting/exploring. Loving the decor,stories, and parallel history. Yet, it sounds like you had more fun than me.
I really liked the video, it was well paced and delivered with some really insightful thoughts on the themes of the game. I guess that's why it really bothered me that at around the 1 hour mark when you talk about invasions your take on them is pretty much antithetical to your takes on the rest of the games themes. An example being one of the very first things you say about them being "unplanned pvp". The invasion mechanic never changes. When you open the door for fellow tarnished cooperators the same door stays open for hostile tarnished to invade, its not really a matter of if but when, and the onus for planning on pvp is on you. I really wish you could have come around on your preconceived ideas on invasions later in the video having a moment where you realize invasions aren't an "interruption" to the game and that invaders aren't there "with only the intent to disrupt" but there to test you and to test themselves. As someone that has invaded and been invaded its sad to me that so many people have this idea that invasions aren't a natural part of the game where you can learn lessons and test yourself against your fellow tarnished in the same way you test yourself against difficult areas and bosses. This line of thought leads to so much toxicity in our community where some hosts see invaders as bad people and trolls while on the other side some invaders see hosts as entitled and cry babies. It all leads to unfun cheesy fights and horrible dms where both sides try to humiliate the other side all while catching more hosts and invaders up in the downward spiral. Well I think that's enough rambling from me. Final thoughts this was a really great video definitely worth a like and sub didn't agree with everything but hey who does and I'm excited to check out more of your videos.
I haven't gotten past the Taurus Demon in DS1 before (only started playing recently) and your description on what to do at 8:01 literally blew my mind goddamn
I love this so much, i just started playing Elden Ring again after constantly putting it down because im no good at souls games! Now with a fresh save, I've beaten Margit with no summons and only 2 handing a greatsword! I feel so proud i learned his moveset, and im having a blast!!
Heh. I had used the mimic tear a lot through the latter part of the game. But talking to a friend, I realized. It had trivialized so many of the game's greatest moments and ecnounters. So, I vowed to do The final fight(s) without a summon. It was VERY difficult, but as I told my friend, I maanged to do it "As god intended" 1V1, at the precipice of change.
The reference to CPG Gray at the description of souls games was amazing
Sometimes it real fun to throw something onto a video and see who gets it
its here and i couldnt be happier
Most important quests give you item to remember what you’re supposed to do.
There are a few where you randomly find guys and they say a thing. That is less an actual quest and more a guiding hand.
You really only scratched the surface of their game design and how it feeds into itself.
Also, the finger readers really operate as your quest log. Except they tell you of notable things to do in the area.
An example of the items as a reminder just look at Latenna. She exists as a summon with a description to remind you and half a medallion that hits at the second half. She pushed me to the snow fields all on her own without looking things up.
It’s funny to me because it feels like fromsoft knows their audience. They made caelid wilds for those looking for a challenge. It’s not blocked off at all. Those people are likely to play without magic and Caelid rewards tend towards physical builds. The biggest guts Greatsword and the sweetest katana are both in Caelid.
Alexander exists in part to lead you to this area. And he speaks of a challenge.
The other way to get to Caelid is found by those fighting a dragon. You could avoid the fight and get the chest but if someone avoids too much that chest will not be found.
The path around the castle that lets you avoid the boss fights is told to you by a finger reader marked on the map.
Loads of NPC’s really exist to push you to content. Blaith pushes you to Ranni’s quest and the Manor. Alexander pushes you to the Radahn fight. Nepheli leads you to Latenna’s quest which takes you to the Hailegtree.
The Hailegtree has two paths. One from Liurnia with Latenna. The other started from Caelid with Millicent. Both take you the shaded castle and the Hailegtree.
Every major rune has mutiple threads you can pick up. It’s left up to the player which they want to follow.
The only ever present push is to the capital to become Elden Lord.
The design follows the BioWare tiered design. Limgrave, Liurnia and Caelid kinda form tier 1. With Caelid obviously being the cap. Ranni’s quest runs you back to Caelid if you mostly follow the obvious plot threads.
Valcano manor and atlus plateau are tier 2.
To get to tier 2 either requires you to fight a boss(magmawyrm) or explore extensively(explore weeping peninsula, Liurnia and Caelid).
The medallion pieces are at the back of the zones and the lift is at the back of Liurnia. Unless you’re ignoring everything the game does a good job of reinforcing and moving you along.
Anyone struggling with a difficult boss I really reccomend u recording your battle and studying it really helped me understand my mistakes. I find it helps where they have really fast move sets and where it’s difficult to work out what’s going on
Huzzah! An excellent video! Thank you!
Your thoughts at the end of the video that what makes something good is the ability not to be able to replicate it again instantly made me think of the glory days of early Destiny. I don’t think anything will ever hit as hard as those first couple raids with my friends
I only truly fell in love with Elden Ring when resolved to complete a run using nothing but whips, on a save file named Devo.
I had a similar experience of comedy when I first played the game when the mad pumpkin head at fort haight dropped his iconic pumpkin helmet. I then preceded to put on the helmet and never take it off, even though I couldn't wear any other armor because of the weight. Something about the goofy ass helmet made the game so much fun.
Few additions to the points made in the video:
A big part that makes Elden Ring so enjoyable for me are random online interactions. It is absurd almost every time you enter another player´s world. There will be Tim ( has 8 vigor in Farum Azula, does magic, fatrolls), Lone Ronin Takahashi (dropped his samurai armor, uses Blasphemous Blade and summoned you), Anime references gallore and Pretty Roenna (wears the cutest outfit you´ve seen, wrecks people in PVP, solos the boss without breaking a sweat). These people clashing again and again makes such a great contrast to the otherwise somber and often bleak world you´re experiencing. Also, PvP makes for some of the most fun and engaging content I´ve done in these games. Participating in coop and PvP also is a great source of both runes and the otherwise scarce rune arcs.
The discussion about spirit summons has been had in a million places, but just to add something i´ve rarely seen talked about: a lot of the ashes have unique mechanics and interactions that you´ll just miss out on if you don´t use them: Latenna will hijack enemy wolves and become a mobile archer. The demi humans gain red eyes if summoned at night and will be way more agressive. Rats are free, both in terms of summoning costs and runes for upgrading and will become more numerous if upgraded. Putrid corpses deal effectively no damage, but also take almost no damage and will have aggro 90% of the time they´re in range of an enemy.
Just as NPCs give a lot more directions than earlier games, so do item descriptions. The discarded palace key (that you couldn´t have known about) directly states that it opens the chest next to Rennala.
01:07:00 so here's the thing about the bird method: even if it were patched and a wall was added, just turning to the right reveals a dozen sleepy albinaurics just waiting to be ganked from behind
Which is to say, that spot is the developer winking and telling you, it's a farming spot, so hop up on that John Deere and start harvesting.
Pretty much every Dark Souls 1 and Bloodborne boss is the way you described Red Wolf of Radagon
Awesome video!
I'm still Flabbergasted that you were able to pretty much beat the game twice without knowing you could use the bosses spirits to gain powers. As i said before, I'm highly impressed you were able to. You had already completed the hard mode challenge twice without even knowing it 😂 Bug was never a debuff, just pure confidence
Yea my mate did the same thing but with sekiro. That just had me dropping my jaw in disbelief that he’d beaten it without using the bosses to strengthen himself. He doesn’t even think he’s a good player. Some peoples skills just make me sick
Like you, I didn't much care for ER the first time I played it though I only got like level 50 or so. I just didn't get it. It was also my first From game so that didn't help lol
But with a second monitor open and some help from friends about "the handshake" I successfully grabbed it and had an amazing time. My gripes were a bit different and more about my personal tastes, but I eventually figured it out.
Great video! I enjoyed hearing about your experience a lot.
For a long time i've thought that fromsoft games are primarily a social experience. At first glance, you're alone against an unfair world, but every tiny bit of interaction with other people feels so much more important because of it. The messages that help you (or waste your time) are definitely important to the experience; summoning people is definitely an intended mechanic, not an "easy mode" or whatever people with no friends think it is; talking about the game with other people, telling about cool little details you've found that could help others, that is also part of the experience. I think that looking through a wiki (or reading some reddit post or whatever) to find some item you want, or some piece of info you need, is also part of this "social experience" i've been talking about, but at a community level. Maybe you were not supposed to find a farming spot on your own, but the game encourage you to share your experience with others, and that necessarily means that we share this knowledge, this rune farming "exploit", or a way to do something easier, and that's in line with the spirit of fromsoft games. I think it's really cool that this social aspect of the game was key to your enjoyment of it, and more people should embrace it, instead of rejecting it.
I'm only 15 minutes into the video, and nearly 60 hours into Elden ring and this is showing me a completely different way to approach the fromsoft games that I never in my life could have conceived. The Bull fight in DS1, I never realized the archers were shooting at me until I ran so far that the boss spawned, so i got frustrated that I couldn't fight the boss without being staggered. I completely missed the ladder up for about 10 tries, finally noticed it and finished the boss fight. Never in my life did I realize there was a ledge to fall on the boss from.
When I first played Elden Ring, I had no idea there was Catacombs or caves or anything, and missed all of that and just bashed my head into Margit with a summon until it worked, same with the grafted. I quit the game for a year after that point, because I thought it was boring and unintuitive. I've since found caves and catacombs for my playthrough but get frustrated at missing quests and not understanding where to go, leading to ages of wandering around until I google.
This video made me realize I have spent 60 hours playing this game entirely wrong and I'm not sure how to feel about it. On one hand, I just passed the Fire Giant and am close to the end, but on the other, the amount of looking up I've had to do feels like its completely spoiled the game for me and now I want to start over and try to engage it from a FromSoft perspective, as alien as that experience may be.
I took like a year long hiatus from elden ring after having beaten the game multiple times but still going into higher and higher new game +. And when I came back I steam rolled through this game totally solo and even bosses that I was dreading went down in a handful of tries. And nothing made me love the game more than having struggled and having seen the improvement. The lore is something I fall asleep to every night. I love this game.
In my 1st playthrough I found the glint stone key before I found the academy xD
Gunna have to finish this later cause I havnt beat it yet, but loving your content. I absolutely enjoyed as far as I got by just wandering around and exploring. Didnt understand barely a damn thing any NPCs said and missed a vast majority of clues.
I by by being open minded and (mostly) remembering that the goal is to have fun. I bang my head against walls frequently, and people watching me often say “dude, just leave already”, but I leave when the fight’s not fun, or when I want to.
I see a lot of gamers not realize that they need to put effort into making their experiences with games fun. That the fun is ultimately under their control and how they approach the game is a major factor in why they are or are not having fun.
Gamers really do optimize the fun out of games very frequently. (And to be fair, some games are designed to amplify this)
Lovely video! You have a bell ringy subscriber in me
I learned to love elden ring by capping my level at 150 and going to ng+7 so spirit ashes and co-op feel almost mandatory. It also helps weed out the true tryhard warriors on my team based on who dies to the absurd damage all the enemies do. Really helps create memorable moments as opposed to the steamrolling that usually takes place when summoning 2 extra tarnished.
I did a run that I never completed with only pants, gloves, accessories and weapons. Chest armor and helmets were out. Definitely made things complicated
The shared struggle and triumph changes the game completely.
Can't wait for this to become the cult classic elden ring video essay
My new favourite UA-camr ❤
"Sorry, gamers, that'll be 500 runes" is a top-tier punchline. Thank you for the laugh.
Elden Ring won't exhilarate you, it won't make the fun times even more fun, it won't give you that massive dopamine hit, it won't hand the answers and direction to you, but it will help you find joy within the darkest, and hardest of challenges within the times within your life that you are at your lowest and every challenge is daunting.
This is why I absolutely love Elden Ring, it's all on you to problem solve, and at the end you learn how to problem solve, you learn how to try, and try again, you learn and build upon the last things you learned and apply them to new things you learn to build upon them. Ultimately it was your efforts and choice to choose a certain path or to make something work or put in effort that made it so you succeeded or enjoyed something.
You can even choose to play the game "wrong", and then change the way you the play game fundamentally, it's not even wrong to play the game "wrong" but if you're not enjoying it looking for changes or perspectives is ideal.
This game isn't just a one-time standalone action movie you watch and move on, it's an experience that you have full control over if you succeed or not, do something or not, based on your actions that not only applies to the game, but to real life as well as an extension. The game only finds meaning if you make the choice, not playing the game for someone else, but for yourself. Otherwise, I really want to say that, you won't enjoy, and you may not even finish the game given that you feel an external pressure to do it, it just has to come from within.
My stupid funny thing I held onto was usually one of three weapons, that stupid dragon head weapon that was really bad and it was the reward for killing Godrick and turning in the rune, the winged scythe, and my unhealthy obsession with ultra great weapons. My goal was Maliketh's armor set, and Radhan's armor.
local man discovers the elden ring was the friends he made along the way
I've really gotta wonder how this entire experience (and probably your prior experience too) would have been coloured differently if you just put some more points into VIG.
OH BOY HERE IT COMES
i'm glad i'm not the only one who had to struggle to like Elden Ring
"Something *clicked*" color saturation changes. This told me I was in for a great video. Well played.
Now to watch the thing. XD
EDIT: I was not disappointed. Kudos.
1:01:28 yeah that moment was hilarious, also was one hell of a jumpscare
That was a beautiful ending
Niall is named for Niall Noigiallach, the semi-mythical ancestor of the O'Neills, and roughly half of Ireland. O'Neill is thusly, likely, Niall's son, grandson, or descendant.
dude you make elden ring bosses that are already so cool, sound even cooler
Sr... You have to go back and fight the REAL final boss, which lives in the Haligtree.
This was beautiful
20:12 I am not going to lie. Hearing your "I beat Elden Ring without bothering to learn how to use the Great Runes and the Rune Arcs" made me roll my eyes so hard, they almost turned toward the back of my head 😂 THANKFULLY, you did not release that first video which was based on that DUUHHH experience. You would have drawn the ire and ridicule from the community.
So... the real Elden Ring is the jolly co-operations we made along the way?
It's okay. The first time I fully completed a souls game was Dark Souls 3 which I did without knowing what an undead bone shard was. It is no wonder I am so good at these games now.
You might not think that Red Wolf is best designed boss in the game if you would apply what you were saying about conceptualizing the tempo and learning what the dodge rhythm was like on more of them. Instead of just shooting them all in the back while they’re attacking something else
Heh i remember when I started with knigt and spent over 30 tries (a lot of time) to beat margith. And then I swapped to samurai, and I discovered bleed and beat margith on lvl 14. I was so afraid of next boss that i held myself from fighting godrick for a while. I got to him on lvl 46 again and beat him on first try. Since then it was pretty straigbtforward. I started clearing every single dungeon i found and game became so much aeasier. Bleed is with me to thos day, on my 3rd playthrough even if I am going with greatsword i use it with bleed.
ive always felt souls games are very pretty rhythm games and its so nice to hear someone else say it
I could write something about games being more fun with friends, or playing in a way you enjoy or with third-party knowledge. But I'm not a video essayist. It was fun watching, both video and streams. See you for the inevitable DLC.
ngl tho - i don't like the part where you used lightning spear.
it a great video and it was also a great story. but man did you trigger me by not investing more into vigor.👌
What a wonderful story
19:23 thank you
maybe it's been said, but Renalla specifically lacks stakes of Marika for the run up. Kinna makes sense cause Marika is a home wreaker that stole renalla's Radagon away. That act was anathema to the church of vows where Radagon promised to stop being a land grabbing warlord and join houses with rennala of house Carian. Sooo, the runup has at least some lore to it. I liked the run up. Sometimes the game was a bit to forgiving in my opinion, so it was nice to be frustrated.
MAN THIS VID IS GREAT BUT 38:49 YOU CAN STEP ON THE BUTTON AGAIN ON THE ELEVATOR TO SEND IT DOWN FOR YOUR NEXT ATTEMPT. IT SAVES SO MUCH TIME IN EVERY FROMSOFT GAME
17:12 Love the Idiocracy reference!
Brawndo feeds the plants, and the plants feed the ghosts. It's the beautiful circle of life
That was beautiful
I cant say I understand or would ever play games like this. however elden ring is such a varied game that im glad people that do have this play style can play the way they want! I love playing on the razors edge doing cool things and dying in one hit with zero help and thats just how ive always enjoyed thease games. every since the original dark souls showed me there was more to games then turning my brain off and just existing in a fog Ive always felt that thease games deserve my utmost respect when tackling a challenge. all that to say im an adrenaline junkie for thease games.
But one philosophy point ive always held in games seems to be challenged lately. Ive long beleive that "if a piece of media is required to play with friends that piece of media is not good enough to deserve the boost that playing with friends provide." in a layman's terms even stomping poop in the woods is fun with friends but that dosnt mean stomping poop in the woods is fun. games like helldivers and lethal company and now this video have shown that philosophy to start to waver but I still do believe it has merit in the terms of quality of time spent on an activity.
you made a great video bug man thanks for the entertaining hour and a half!
bro you dont gotta like every thing thats "the best thing ever" chill
this was a good video to watch while playing Bloodborne for the first time, do you think you will pick up Elden Ring again when the dlc drops?
Btw you can wrong warp into the capital, i know it is a glitch but it is cool
People wouldn't think Souls games are brutally difficult if they just learned to level up their HP when everything is one-shotting them. My friend thinks I'm super skilled at Elden Ring because I barely ever die when playing anymore, but I'm really not that great at it. It's literally just basic pattern recognition plus enough health to make mistakes and then learn from them in real time. More people should try it
maybe the real elden ring is the friends we made along...
I think the open world design can really hurt the experience.
1. The first thing I do in an open world is to abondon the main quest. Which led to me playing for hours until I could level.
2. I dont leave if I encounter difficult fights, I try until I manage to win. This leads to frustration since I sit for hours at sidebosses Im not even supposed to fight yet, but also other areas that are then to easy. When I went to the academy I saw this cool wolf boss battle and thought: "This could be an awesome fight. I shame that I can tank all those attacks and just maul you down." Similarly with renala. No challange, just bludgeoning.
I'm rather similar despite playing it extensively.
I only started to have fun when I got the octopus helmet and played as a poison swamp nomad where I used the turtle shield and poison mist great club.
The roleplay was me bringing my own fun into a rather boring / tedious game design.
But then the late game boss rush experience ruined the fun of exploration and experimentation.
So in my other characters I don't bother with the late game bosses untill am level 150 from the blood bird farm. They're not fun to fight so I'm happy to cheese them.
I had no problem with the draconic tree sentinel. Horse Archer build is kinda op in areas where Torrent is allowed if a bit tedious as all archer builds are in From Soft games.
archer builds need to rely a lot more on ashes of war for damage
After i beat the game the first time i felt fighting on horseback hurt all the dragon fights and made them a joke
@@Someone-lg6di the rotten and ice dragons makes it a lot more challenging
9:22 Elden Souls gotta be my favorite fromsoft title
At 20 min you mention not knowing great runes, I'm 600 hours in and while I have used them, I almost never bother. They're just a tedious minor buff to me