Additional edit: It turns out the Japanese guidebook actually explicitly labels these variants as "写し身の雫" (Utsushi mi no shizuku), the same term it uses for Mimic Tears, so there's really no ambiguity to it. Edit: I'm surprised how many comments there are where people assume these are creatures that underwent Rebirth, since as we see with Boc and the Juvenile Scholars, if they were Reborn they probably wouldn't be roaming around in good health. The only reason the player can be Reborn without issue is having possession of the Great Rune of the Unborn. Plus also, just the idea of a Runebear coming to Rennala and choosing to be turned into a person is kind of hard to imagine. Discounting the Larval Tears from the mimic enemies, there are only 3 Larval Tears you can find above ground and 9 below, so the idea of spreading things out with these weirdos was pretty helpful to balance it out. I had thought a general understanding of the mimic enemies was pretty widespread, but with people still asking about it a little under a week ago, I figured it would be worth covering after all.
I had never considered it because after they transform I'm outta there lol. I didn't even know they dropped larval tears. I might have put it together then, but I know for certain I've never killed the crayfish one because when it transformed I was almost dead so I left and never fought a crayfish again.
Never thought it could be mimic, it also feels weird, like why a mimic would take a form then take another form and not going back to mimic or whatever. It feels more of a just secret stuff to make some fun and hidden encounter. Something forcefully pulled into the game rather than an actual linked to anything like mimics. Sometime you just dont have connexion, stuff are as they are and if there is connexion it might be kinda grafted afterwards to give a bit of sens, but i dont see much of it here. To me its more that maybe some creatures tried to change by seeing renala, and when you kill them you just get their power = larval tear
I think the way you interpret it is different from the way I do. Perhaps these creatures are ones who sought Renalla for transformation, and upon defeating their new form, they revert into their true self, dropping the larval tear used to make that transformation upon death.
Ya the larval tear pretty much spells it out for you but i guess if you've never killed one or god forbid you dont pay attention to item locations/descriptions you wouldnt know. The ones i've fought have all been noble/noble adjacent in their first form so i didnt even know you had to kill it in its first form i just thought you spooked it when you hit it and it goes into attack mode xD Heres another fun theory the same "clod" who turned boc into a tree is goin around polymorphing things or perhaps better yet dun dun dun boc is a mimic who thinks hes really a demi human lol
So I knew about the Rune Bear and the Wormface. But I never knew the lobster turns into a grafted scion thanks for showing me this I can now help newer players find it if they need a tear.
I assume this has something to do with the cut questline with the Mimic Tear. Basically Mimic Tears travel to the surface and find a host. They reside within the host, studying the world and perhaps find things suitable that they can transform into. When the host dies the Mimic Tear transforms into something menacing as self defense. It is a shame that the Mimic Tear quest was cut out. It would have been so cool and rewarding to get the Mimic Tear ash as the quest reward, since it is defnitely the one of the most versatile and unique ashes in the game. I hope Fromsoft either adds it back in as a free update, or maybe make a similar questline in the DLC.
Yeah, I can usually understand why stuff gets cut since oftentimes things just don't end up working in practice, but I'm not sure I'll ever understand why the mimic tear quest was cut.
I bet mimic tear summon was meant to be the reward for the cut quest but they decided they wanted the summon to be available more readily and easily for players as it was definitely intentionally powerful to help ease the difficulty of the game for whoever wanted it. Maybe the quest got cut as a result of that since it wasnt fully finished upon making the decision since a meaningful and apporopriate reward couldnt be figured out.
@@Kindaul stupid decision. Casuals. Doesnt matter what game, what franchise, what sport, what Fandom, new people ruin established things. It always has to get changed to cater to the people with no apprr for what came before and in the end, its all spaghetti.
My first encounter with these enemies was the one Noble half buried in the show, in the Consecrated Snowfields. I thought it was pretty funny, so I hung around for a minute before jokingly hitting it. Big mistake, the runebear that exploded out of the snow actually made me jump lmao
I was trying to fight that runebear and I tell you it was one of the most annoying fights for me. In the end I had to cheese it because it literally two shot me at level 200.
@@makenaiyomi1083 Runebrears become waaaay easier if you stick to them like glue (especially so if you can get behind them). I'm running a guts sword str build, and these bears have never been easier
@@makenaiyomi1083 I can attest to UltimaPhoenix2405 above: at close melee range they almost never roar (which is their biggest damager), and claw and slams can be dodged. I run with dex and they are much easier up close (still bad, but survivable). If you are on sorcerer try Swift Glintstone Pebble or that wide arch spell you get at the start, anything without too much windup.
@@hiddenshadow2105 Maybe that was my mistake, thanks. I had my magic build back then but knowing this, I would've probably take it on with the Adula Moonblade. I defeated it by going so far away it lost Aggro and then doing the Rock Sling. Really cheap and I'm not proud of it. But I try it at close range the next time.
@@makenaiyomi1083 I say use whatever means possible, as these bears also don't play by the rules. They are also succeptable to bleed which speeds things up noticeably to me.
Hehe often I read or hear people lamenting that there are no mimic chest in the game, meanwhile I sit over here thinking about the literal CITY OF MIMICS underground. And the fact that some either wandered up or were sent to the surface is such a terrifying though especially given how they can become anything in the world, including the player character themselves. It reminds me of newer DND players cheering when they find the classic mimic but learning the terror of a dopplerganger
@@iota-09 hi newer DND player! Welcome to the club! Here's your introductionary dice set with too many dice, your binder with pre made characters youll never play, and your monster waifu catalogue!
legit broke into a little cold sweat as this revelation took root from watching this vid. I mean, ya duh, mimic tears, mimics. Just so trained from DS to assume mimics only relate to the treasure chest gameplay loop, meanwhile they've gone from one jumpscare enemy to core plot point. Very cool IMHO.
Honestly, the most confusing aspect of them is that they transform from a creature into another creature. Which is odd, as we only see blob becoming a creature in the cities. I think if the cities had creature to creature transformations (The Mimic Tear boss would have been interesting. Fight yourself, then fight the actual boss) it would have been a more obvious connection of "Oh hey, this is another one of those mimics". On a side note, lets be thankful that they didn't make any objects Mimic Tears... Imagine opening a chest and it turns into a Rune Bear, or you hit an illusory wall and it turns into a Revenant...
It is not odd at all. Their normal form is a camouflage, fitting with the environment as not too imposing. But when they are threatened, they assume a combat form.
exactly my point, the fact that mimic transform into something else FROM their mimic form, but here no, its anything into anything else, so this theory doesnt make much sens, looks like a big strech
The DLC is being made, don't give them any ideas! Jokes aside, it will be very fun if they add mimic chests again but on the DLC. I don't think many of us will expect those after the main game.
The wormface one scared me so bad. I was engulfed in the cloud of mist it throws off when you 'kill' the original form, only to end up hugging a wormface when it cleared.
My very first trip to Caelid (via chest warp), I panicked and ended up wandering aimlessly trying to find my way back to something familiar. I ended up running into the mimic that turns into the troll and somehow conflated that encounter with another encounter I had with the large group of putrid corpses that also wander Caelid. Due to my desire to play this game blind the first time, I spent that playthrough avoiding putrid corpses thinking they all transformed when enough damage was dealt. I felt very foolish after realizing what actually happened.
I didn't put 2 and 2 together until right now that this is a play on the mimic trope. This game doesn't have the people eating chests, but it has teleportation traps and enemies that turn into other enemies connected to the thing that is actually called a mimic in this game. Interesting stuff.
I always thought it had something to do with cut content, specifically in regards to Bock. You first meet him as a bush, and when you help him out he has the same type of transformation animation. It's never really explained, but there's the existing connection between Bock and larval tears already, so I thought the various enemies may be in a similar predicament. Your interpretation definitely makes more sense, but it leaves me to wonder what's going on with Bock then?
You can find other Demi-Humans like Boc also disguised as bushes in some areas, but unlike Boc they'll break out of it on their own and attack you. It seems to be something the Demi-Humans know how to do themselves, which they usually use to ambush people, and they must have used it on Boc to bully him.
@@ZullietheWitch Ah, yeah that makes a decent bit more sense. Still wonder how he's "trapped" as a bush though. He does mention that he forgot he was in that form, and maybe since he's on the scrawny side that gives him some trouble too? Guess it's something to probably chalk up to the vagueness of Fromsoftware games.
@@melliawheeler9004 I think you're reading too much into it. Boc is obviously a bit more "civilized" than his demi-human counterparts, so it's not crazy to assume that he was changed into that form but doesn't know how to change back himself because he's an outsider to his own culture. He probably forgot that he was in that form because he was stuck in it for so long, not that he turned himself into it and somehow couldn't get out of it.
@@melliawheeler9004 Don't the demi-humans have literal like... magic leaders? I don't remember what they're called. It's likely Boc can't actual you use the polymorph magic himself, but a magic demi-human or one with the ability to command one turned him into a bush as punishment.
I only recently figured this out after several playthroughs. What really threw me off was not realizing they were one enemy transforming into another. Because most are nobles, they tend to blend in and be mostly ignored or killed accidentally; my first encounter like this was the Caelid troll and I assumed he just popped out of the ground. Also since the transformation is delayed by the death animation, usually I'd kill the noble and run past/turn around and then get attacked from behind seemingly out of nowhere, completely missing the transformation. Also the lobsters are rarely worth fighting, so never bothered killing the one that becomes a Scion.
I truly believe that mimic that transforms into a white runebear in the ice map can solo every single boss and become elden lord. That mf was so hard for me.
Your videos help me relaxing after a long day, and it is inspiring to see you putting so much thought and effort into every episode, so truly, thank you for that :)
I love this design. After a couple, you as a player start wondering if you will fall into one of those traps again by killing regular easy targets, imposing a subtle fear. A giant appearing is one thing, but the chimera and the rune bear, both make my great rune go undead.
2:17 At first, it was a little confusing, but once I found out the source of larval tears, and saw the mimic tears transform, it became pretty obvious what was going on. Add in that all the transforming enemies use the same puff of smoke and sound effect that a transforming mimic tear does, and it's honestly a little surprising that people don't make the connection themselves.
This is one of FromSoft’s more interesting ideas. It feels akin to DS2’s NG+ being much more varied, but does it right in NG. The surprise factor on these encounters is incredible.
@@cybertruckeralpha DS2 ideas given enough time for devs to develop properly. I'd say some returning DS2 elements in ED already done right the first time, it just muddled with the bad reception.
Dang, that Limgrave bear is the only one of these I encountered in my playthroughs, though I do vaguely remember that troll in Caelid. I think an item I wanted to pick up was nearby. Otherwise, I'm surprised to see there were more, and particularly that I didn't know about them until now.
@@snizza5350 Might depend on how they're playing the game. If they're playing how I've ended up playing, then it's easy to explain. Torrent makes it too easy to just nope away from stuff if I don't want to fight. I find various aspects of the game annoying even though I try not to compare it with previous FromSoftware games. The size of the game with the plethora of ways to die mean I end up not worrying much about runes. Exploration and progress in the Souls games being more structured and connected means it's difficult to miss stuff and there's some more incentive to retrieve my souls/blood echoes. That's not say I can't just farm up what I've lost in those games. In Elden Ring most enemies drop such a small amount of runes that it's not worth the bother to me. Even going out of my way to explore I still miss things. I got to Rennala while skipping at least half of Raya Lucaria because they made it roughly a straight shot to her with only one boss and one mildly annoying enemy NPC in the way in addition to the annoying stunlock mages.
Another nice element is that it puts a bit of a challenge: The player unaware won't necessarily be prepared to fight the enemy the Tear will turn into, or in the case of the Crayfish, be prepared to fight both forms.
I don't know if this is the first time for something like this in the souls series but encountering that rune bear one scared the shit out of me because I was now paranoid who to attack now but that lion one I knew it was gonna be a mimic hence why that guy was just standing there but it's interesting to know now that they're mimics because I was curious why they were like that and it all makes sense now. Thank you Zullie.
When someone inevitably, incidentally offs me from the back of their mythical goat-horse, I hope I at least transform into something cool before I go down.
I think the main problem is that these transform when being killed as well. Which seems weird. If they were like mimics, they would transform beforehand. And I think the Crayfish and Scion are an example that stays in people's minds because both enemies on their own are tough to deal with if you don't know them very well. All in all, while I think the idea is okay, I feel the execution is just not done very well. Especially since the way the transformation is animated makes it seem more like a new enemy is spawning after the old one was killed and not that the same enemy is just transforming.
i would of thought the mimics were taking the unassuming look of a Noble or Crayfish to move around undisturbed (hiding, espionage, whatever), but when threatened transform into something menacing to both try to scare you off but also to fight you in a powerful form. The interaction would be less obtuse if after beating the powerful form, the tear reverted back to just being a tear and you killed it like that to obtain the item.
Have you looked into the spectral dragonkin soldier in the consecrated snowfield? I was always curious about what ties it to that place when all the others are around the eternal city
I think what mainly makes it difficult to realize they’re mimic tears is the lack of a silvery look like the one that turns into a troll in the eternal city
Think the biggest problem with this most likely lore connection is the fact you'll find several of them way before you learn about the mimic tears, so it's totally possible you overlook this connection as it's no longer special and just a random game mechanic. At least that's been the experience for me.
I'm amazed that I still find new things with this game. I new about the guy transforming into a runebear and the wormface. I thought I had killed evey enemy in the game at least once but I never saw the transforming crayfish. Lol I never thought they went thru rebirth, my assumption was they either had the larval tear on them so when they died it triggered a transformation in them or that they ate them. Lol
I think it’d be clearer if the second creatures had a silvery color filter on them. So early on players would be confused but after seeing the Eternal City go “OOOOOOOOH!”
I literally just fought the Grafted Scion inside the lobster. This was before I watched your video. I've done like 10+ full playthroughs and never knew it was there. Scared the shit out of me!
I don't think the implication is that they are actually mimic tears. The VFX for their transformation is completely different from any of the mimic tears we can encounter in Nokstella. Rather, that these enemies are using the larval tear in some way to allow them to transform.
It could be that these enemies have been changed against their will, especially up on the surface. Their smoke burst is exactly the same as Boc's when you find and 'slay' the bush he had been turned into, and Boc admits to you that 'some bloke' did that to him against his will. Could be that those larger enemies were transformed into weaker ones by that same 'bloke' to keep them from attacking him, or possibly to set up traps for other tarnished who were trying to become Elden Lord.
@@HomeWingGamer Wait, that's a good point. I was going to say that it was down to Rennala's Great Rune of the Unborn, but its the exact same noise indeed. Has there been this complete shadow of an NPC we've never thought about, in the SU, going around and transforming people/things for the laugh or as a service?
Only Rennala knows how to use the power of the larval tears through her amber egg, and if you don't have the great rune of the unborn you will die soon after your transformation, imo Zullie's explanation makes more sense
That might just be down to them not wanting to make unique transformation animations for a bunch of one-off random encounters most people will never see, with the exception being the troll who's a unique setpiece at the end of a questline. They'd have to animate the one creature turning to goo (which is tricky when it's not a blob already) and the other crawling out of it.
theres no lore or story reason for it. fromsoft just thought it would be funny. don't read too much into these things its a waste of time. plenty of better topics to speculate about.
That transforming wormface scared the hell out of me when I first saw it. I hate them one their own, but even more so when one appears an inch away from my face.
Also from a game mechanic view, it punishes/rewards people who seek out to kill every thing in their path. So it offers a surprise and if completing- a cool reward for those folks
I feel like the reason I never thought this was the case is because the smoke they give off when transforming doesn't hurt you, which the mimic mist does.
Mimic Tear would have been a really cool fight if it had a phase two where it would cycle through a few enemy types, depending on your play style.. if you fight at range it would adapt and become something quicker or a crucible knight with a shield, if you try to use heavy attacks it would become a Crab or land octopus or something… idk. I think that would be fun.
The kneeling noble in the ruins near Leyndell that transforms into a Lion Guardian when you kill him.....yeah I needed a change of underwear that day...
I just watched a 2 and a half minute video literally only relaying information that i already know, and I loved every second of it. Zullie content just be hittin different.
It's just weird how that particular one in liurnia is the only one that doesn't start off as a noble, which in turn makes it one of the harder larval tears to get.
That's so cool!!! I would sort of just laugh whenever that would happen, it felt like such a typical From Software joke so I never thought about it too much, but it's so cool that it makes complete sense within the lore!
Ah yes, the "implication". Got always sunny on my mind. Also, God damn that rune bear. Smacked that noble at level 3 on my first play through, he animorphed, and shrekked me.
honestly, I never thought I'd be surprised by a grafted scion in the middle of liurnia lake when I killed one of those sniper lobsters, I thought it was some rare encounter and didn't realize it was a transformation. I love this game.
I've wondered... would an audiobook version of zullie's "fromsoft features" be popular? I love watching these to relax, the sounds of fromsoft games is like asmr to me tbh, and the music is great too, but if there was a soothing voice speaking the written explanations for each one.... man that would be amazing i'd listen to it all the time
The noble that turned into margit scared the shit out of me lol probably my biggest wtf moment in the beginning days of the game especially since it was the 1st transformation I found
I disagree with the conclusion that these enemies are larval tears as there's an early encounter that explains the situation very clearly: Boc the seamster was transformed into a tree because wizards are generally assholes that would transform a runebear into a noble just to get said runebear out of their way.
Fun fact about that Mimic Tear that turns into a Troll: If you’re careful, you can sneak around the edge of that zone, get behind the Tear, and (if you’ve got good damage) kill it before it transforms. It’ll still have the Mimic Tear HP instead of the Troll HP. I discovered this by accident and it helped a lot because I suck at fighting Trolls.
Additional edit: It turns out the Japanese guidebook actually explicitly labels these variants as "写し身の雫" (Utsushi mi no shizuku), the same term it uses for Mimic Tears, so there's really no ambiguity to it.
Edit: I'm surprised how many comments there are where people assume these are creatures that underwent Rebirth, since as we see with Boc and the Juvenile Scholars, if they were Reborn they probably wouldn't be roaming around in good health. The only reason the player can be Reborn without issue is having possession of the Great Rune of the Unborn. Plus also, just the idea of a Runebear coming to Rennala and choosing to be turned into a person is kind of hard to imagine.
Discounting the Larval Tears from the mimic enemies, there are only 3 Larval Tears you can find above ground and 9 below, so the idea of spreading things out with these weirdos was pretty helpful to balance it out. I had thought a general understanding of the mimic enemies was pretty widespread, but with people still asking about it a little under a week ago, I figured it would be worth covering after all.
I had never considered it because after they transform I'm outta there lol. I didn't even know they dropped larval tears. I might have put it together then, but I know for certain I've never killed the crayfish one because when it transformed I was almost dead so I left and never fought a crayfish again.
Never thought it could be mimic, it also feels weird, like why a mimic would take a form then take another form and not going back to mimic or whatever.
It feels more of a just secret stuff to make some fun and hidden encounter. Something forcefully pulled into the game rather than an actual linked to anything like mimics.
Sometime you just dont have connexion, stuff are as they are and if there is connexion it might be kinda grafted afterwards to give a bit of sens, but i dont see much of it here.
To me its more that maybe some creatures tried to change by seeing renala, and when you kill them you just get their power = larval tear
I think the way you interpret it is different from the way I do. Perhaps these creatures are ones who sought Renalla for transformation, and upon defeating their new form, they revert into their true self, dropping the larval tear used to make that transformation upon death.
Ya the larval tear pretty much spells it out for you but i guess if you've never killed one or god forbid you dont pay attention to item locations/descriptions you wouldnt know.
The ones i've fought have all been noble/noble adjacent in their first form so i didnt even know you had to kill it in its first form i just thought you spooked it when you hit it and it goes into attack mode xD
Heres another fun theory the same "clod" who turned boc into a tree is goin around polymorphing things or perhaps better yet dun dun dun boc is a mimic who thinks hes really a demi human lol
So I knew about the Rune Bear and the Wormface. But I never knew the lobster turns into a grafted scion thanks for showing me this I can now help newer players find it if they need a tear.
I assume this has something to do with the cut questline with the Mimic Tear. Basically Mimic Tears travel to the surface and find a host. They reside within the host, studying the world and perhaps find things suitable that they can transform into. When the host dies the Mimic Tear transforms into something menacing as self defense.
It is a shame that the Mimic Tear quest was cut out. It would have been so cool and rewarding to get the Mimic Tear ash as the quest reward, since it is defnitely the one of the most versatile and unique ashes in the game. I hope Fromsoft either adds it back in as a free update, or maybe make a similar questline in the DLC.
Yeah, I can usually understand why stuff gets cut since oftentimes things just don't end up working in practice, but I'm not sure I'll ever understand why the mimic tear quest was cut.
I bet mimic tear summon was meant to be the reward for the cut quest but they decided they wanted the summon to be available more readily and easily for players as it was definitely intentionally powerful to help ease the difficulty of the game for whoever wanted it. Maybe the quest got cut as a result of that since it wasnt fully finished upon making the decision since a meaningful and apporopriate reward couldnt be figured out.
@@Kindaul stupid decision. Casuals. Doesnt matter what game, what franchise, what sport, what Fandom, new people ruin established things. It always has to get changed to cater to the people with no apprr for what came before and in the end, its all spaghetti.
@@alastor8091 You need to stop yelling at clouds, old man. It's not healthy.
@@brocksteele7475 but it's right
My first encounter with these enemies was the one Noble half buried in the show, in the Consecrated Snowfields.
I thought it was pretty funny, so I hung around for a minute before jokingly hitting it.
Big mistake, the runebear that exploded out of the snow actually made me jump lmao
I was trying to fight that runebear and I tell you it was one of the most annoying fights for me. In the end I had to cheese it because it literally two shot me at level 200.
@@makenaiyomi1083 Runebrears become waaaay easier if you stick to them like glue (especially so if you can get behind them). I'm running a guts sword str build, and these bears have never been easier
@@makenaiyomi1083 I can attest to UltimaPhoenix2405 above: at close melee range they almost never roar (which is their biggest damager), and claw and slams can be dodged. I run with dex and they are much easier up close (still bad, but survivable). If you are on sorcerer try Swift Glintstone Pebble or that wide arch spell you get at the start, anything without too much windup.
@@hiddenshadow2105 Maybe that was my mistake, thanks. I had my magic build back then but knowing this, I would've probably take it on with the Adula Moonblade.
I defeated it by going so far away it lost Aggro and then doing the Rock Sling. Really cheap and I'm not proud of it. But I try it at close range the next time.
@@makenaiyomi1083 I say use whatever means possible, as these bears also don't play by the rules.
They are also succeptable to bleed which speeds things up noticeably to me.
Hehe often I read or hear people lamenting that there are no mimic chest in the game, meanwhile I sit over here thinking about the literal CITY OF MIMICS underground. And the fact that some either wandered up or were sent to the surface is such a terrifying though especially given how they can become anything in the world, including the player character themselves.
It reminds me of newer DND players cheering when they find the classic mimic but learning the terror of a dopplerganger
oh no
it's me, newer dnd player
@@iota-09 hi newer DND player! Welcome to the club! Here's your introductionary dice set with too many dice, your binder with pre made characters youll never play, and your monster waifu catalogue!
@@trevorleitzsey5513 not the monster waifu catalog
@@trevorleitzsey5513 (runs away in terror from Mimic Binder)
legit broke into a little cold sweat as this revelation took root from watching this vid.
I mean, ya duh, mimic tears, mimics. Just so trained from DS to assume mimics only relate to the treasure chest gameplay loop, meanwhile they've gone from one jumpscare enemy to core plot point. Very cool IMHO.
Honestly, the most confusing aspect of them is that they transform from a creature into another creature. Which is odd, as we only see blob becoming a creature in the cities.
I think if the cities had creature to creature transformations (The Mimic Tear boss would have been interesting. Fight yourself, then fight the actual boss) it would have been a more obvious connection of "Oh hey, this is another one of those mimics".
On a side note, lets be thankful that they didn't make any objects Mimic Tears... Imagine opening a chest and it turns into a Rune Bear, or you hit an illusory wall and it turns into a Revenant...
My soul would leave my body if the last part ever happened lol.
If they had added the melting mimic tear animation, it would've made it much less confusing!
It is not odd at all. Their normal form is a camouflage, fitting with the environment as not too imposing. But when they are threatened, they assume a combat form.
exactly my point, the fact that mimic transform into something else FROM their mimic form, but here no, its anything into anything else, so this theory doesnt make much sens, looks like a big strech
The DLC is being made, don't give them any ideas!
Jokes aside, it will be very fun if they add mimic chests again but on the DLC. I don't think many of us will expect those after the main game.
The wormface one scared me so bad. I was engulfed in the cloud of mist it throws off when you 'kill' the original form, only to end up hugging a wormface when it cleared.
That was the first time I had ever even seen that kind of enemy... It totally blew me away
My very first trip to Caelid (via chest warp), I panicked and ended up wandering aimlessly trying to find my way back to something familiar. I ended up running into the mimic that turns into the troll and somehow conflated that encounter with another encounter I had with the large group of putrid corpses that also wander Caelid. Due to my desire to play this game blind the first time, I spent that playthrough avoiding putrid corpses thinking they all transformed when enough damage was dealt. I felt very foolish after realizing what actually happened.
Aw dang rough stuff man. But hey, you have a good elden ring 1st playthrough story to tell now!
Content continues to be entertaining and informative. No idea how I found this channel but glad I did.
I didn't put 2 and 2 together until right now that this is a play on the mimic trope. This game doesn't have the people eating chests, but it has teleportation traps and enemies that turn into other enemies connected to the thing that is actually called a mimic in this game. Interesting stuff.
I always thought it had something to do with cut content, specifically in regards to Bock. You first meet him as a bush, and when you help him out he has the same type of transformation animation. It's never really explained, but there's the existing connection between Bock and larval tears already, so I thought the various enemies may be in a similar predicament. Your interpretation definitely makes more sense, but it leaves me to wonder what's going on with Bock then?
You can find other Demi-Humans like Boc also disguised as bushes in some areas, but unlike Boc they'll break out of it on their own and attack you. It seems to be something the Demi-Humans know how to do themselves, which they usually use to ambush people, and they must have used it on Boc to bully him.
@@ZullietheWitch Ah, yeah that makes a decent bit more sense. Still wonder how he's "trapped" as a bush though. He does mention that he forgot he was in that form, and maybe since he's on the scrawny side that gives him some trouble too? Guess it's something to probably chalk up to the vagueness of Fromsoftware games.
@@melliawheeler9004 I think you're reading too much into it. Boc is obviously a bit more "civilized" than his demi-human counterparts, so it's not crazy to assume that he was changed into that form but doesn't know how to change back himself because he's an outsider to his own culture. He probably forgot that he was in that form because he was stuck in it for so long, not that he turned himself into it and somehow couldn't get out of it.
@@ZullietheWitch I thought Boc said he was turned into a Bush ?
@@melliawheeler9004 Don't the demi-humans have literal like... magic leaders? I don't remember what they're called.
It's likely Boc can't actual you use the polymorph magic himself, but a magic demi-human or one with the ability to command one turned him into a bush as punishment.
I only recently figured this out after several playthroughs. What really threw me off was not realizing they were one enemy transforming into another. Because most are nobles, they tend to blend in and be mostly ignored or killed accidentally; my first encounter like this was the Caelid troll and I assumed he just popped out of the ground. Also since the transformation is delayed by the death animation, usually I'd kill the noble and run past/turn around and then get attacked from behind seemingly out of nowhere, completely missing the transformation. Also the lobsters are rarely worth fighting, so never bothered killing the one that becomes a Scion.
I truly believe that mimic that transforms into a white runebear in the ice map can solo every single boss and become elden lord. That mf was so hard for me.
Your videos help me relaxing after a long day, and it is inspiring to see you putting so much thought and effort into every episode, so truly, thank you for that :)
Never have I thought I’d binge a channel that makes me read but love the deep dive into fromsoft games, thanks for the content zullie!
I love this design. After a couple, you as a player start wondering if you will fall into one of those traps again by killing regular easy targets, imposing a subtle fear. A giant appearing is one thing, but the chimera and the rune bear, both make my great rune go undead.
2:17
At first, it was a little confusing, but once I found out the source of larval tears, and saw the mimic tears transform, it became pretty obvious what was going on. Add in that all the transforming enemies use the same puff of smoke and sound effect that a transforming mimic tear does, and it's honestly a little surprising that people don't make the connection themselves.
"Shock reaction" is a bit of an understatement tbh.. The damn things give me a damn near heart attack each time
This is one of FromSoft’s more interesting ideas. It feels akin to DS2’s NG+ being much more varied, but does it right in NG. The surprise factor on these encounters is incredible.
man i wish they REALLY tried to bring it back tho
Every one she showed was in my first playthrough.
Elden Ring can be easily summed up as DS2 ideas done right.
@@cybertruckeralpha DS2 ideas given enough time for devs to develop properly. I'd say some returning DS2 elements in ED already done right the first time, it just muddled with the bad reception.
"it's still a little obtuse for many players"
That's a great summary of FromSoft lore.
My first encounter with a Rune Bear was when that noble south of Agheel Lake turned into one, scared the shit out of me.
fantastic lore information, presented quickly and cleanly. Minimal fluff, just the kind'a content I love - and thats why you've got my sub
Dang, that Limgrave bear is the only one of these I encountered in my playthroughs, though I do vaguely remember that troll in Caelid. I think an item I wanted to pick up was nearby.
Otherwise, I'm surprised to see there were more, and particularly that I didn't know about them until now.
There are 18 of them in the game and managed to miss 16 of them. 🗿HOW
@@snizza5350 Might depend on how they're playing the game. If they're playing how I've ended up playing, then it's easy to explain. Torrent makes it too easy to just nope away from stuff if I don't want to fight. I find various aspects of the game annoying even though I try not to compare it with previous FromSoftware games. The size of the game with the plethora of ways to die mean I end up not worrying much about runes. Exploration and progress in the Souls games being more structured and connected means it's difficult to miss stuff and there's some more incentive to retrieve my souls/blood echoes. That's not say I can't just farm up what I've lost in those games. In Elden Ring most enemies drop such a small amount of runes that it's not worth the bother to me. Even going out of my way to explore I still miss things. I got to Rennala while skipping at least half of Raya Lucaria because they made it roughly a straight shot to her with only one boss and one mildly annoying enemy NPC in the way in addition to the annoying stunlock mages.
Imagine how cool would it be if there was a boss Silver Tear that would keep transforming into different creatures mid fight
Another nice element is that it puts a bit of a challenge: The player unaware won't necessarily be prepared to fight the enemy the Tear will turn into, or in the case of the Crayfish, be prepared to fight both forms.
These were an utter and completely wonderful yet pain filled surprise, that tended to happen when I either needed it least, or when I got to bold 😒
I don't know if this is the first time for something like this in the souls series but encountering that rune bear one scared the shit out of me because I was now paranoid who to attack now but that lion one I knew it was gonna be a mimic hence why that guy was just standing there but it's interesting to know now that they're mimics because I was curious why they were like that and it all makes sense now. Thank you Zullie.
It's so hard to read without commas.
When someone inevitably, incidentally offs me from the back of their mythical goat-horse, I hope I at least transform into something cool before I go down.
This is really cool! I still remember getting the crap scared outta me when i found a few of these
I think the main problem is that these transform when being killed as well. Which seems weird. If they were like mimics, they would transform beforehand. And I think the Crayfish and Scion are an example that stays in people's minds because both enemies on their own are tough to deal with if you don't know them very well. All in all, while I think the idea is okay, I feel the execution is just not done very well. Especially since the way the transformation is animated makes it seem more like a new enemy is spawning after the old one was killed and not that the same enemy is just transforming.
you also never find one, if you don't kill neutral enemies
Got damn Institute sending synths across universes now
I absolutely fell in love with your channel
The Mimic tears having larval tears inside them also clues into a lot of the alchemical symbolism.
Love that you gave credit to the BGM in the description
i would of thought the mimics were taking the unassuming look of a Noble or Crayfish to move around undisturbed (hiding, espionage, whatever), but when threatened transform into something menacing to both try to scare you off but also to fight you in a powerful form. The interaction would be less obtuse if after beating the powerful form, the tear reverted back to just being a tear and you killed it like that to obtain the item.
Those chain lions make me sad like the stormhawks
Before, at some patch, this crayfish only dropped the larval tear, without turning into a grafted scion
Have you looked into the spectral dragonkin soldier in the consecrated snowfield? I was always curious about what ties it to that place when all the others are around the eternal city
wow, unexpectedly... 😄
I hate it when I be fighting some wolves and then suddenly *Radagon, of the Golden Order.*
Never clicked for me what these actually were. Excellent.
Eldem ring opened the Doors to a whole new world of content for this channel
I cant imagine how crazy this is when you think about these mimics inflitrating places for the eternal city
Love that pic of the Rune Bear halfway in the ground XD
I think what mainly makes it difficult to realize they’re mimic tears is the lack of a silvery look like the one that turns into a troll in the eternal city
Think the biggest problem with this most likely lore connection is the fact you'll find several of them way before you learn about the mimic tears, so it's totally possible you overlook this connection as it's no longer special and just a random game mechanic. At least that's been the experience for me.
I remember finding this and freaking out
I'm amazed that I still find new things with this game. I new about the guy transforming into a runebear and the wormface. I thought I had killed evey enemy in the game at least once but I never saw the transforming crayfish. Lol I never thought they went thru rebirth, my assumption was they either had the larval tear on them so when they died it triggered a transformation in them or that they ate them. Lol
I do love that they pulled out every trick in the book to maintain enemy variety in this game. You've never truly seen everything it has to offer.
I think it’d be clearer if the second creatures had a silvery color filter on them. So early on players would be confused but after seeing the Eternal City go “OOOOOOOOH!”
I literally just fought the Grafted Scion inside the lobster. This was before I watched your video. I've done like 10+ full playthroughs and never knew it was there. Scared the shit out of me!
Is this why there's a fight against Margit in the Capital Outskirts?
Oh, so that's where that Rune Bear came from!
I just thought I'd stumbled on a bear trap.
I just ran into this yesterday and wondered what the hell happened haha. Great video and it makes total sense!
I don't think the implication is that they are actually mimic tears. The VFX for their transformation is completely different from any of the mimic tears we can encounter in Nokstella. Rather, that these enemies are using the larval tear in some way to allow them to transform.
It could be that these enemies have been changed against their will, especially up on the surface.
Their smoke burst is exactly the same as Boc's when you find and 'slay' the bush he had been turned into, and Boc admits to you that 'some bloke' did that to him against his will. Could be that those larger enemies were transformed into weaker ones by that same 'bloke' to keep them from attacking him, or possibly to set up traps for other tarnished who were trying to become Elden Lord.
@@HomeWingGamer Wait, that's a good point. I was going to say that it was down to Rennala's Great Rune of the Unborn, but its the exact same noise indeed. Has there been this complete shadow of an NPC we've never thought about, in the SU, going around and transforming people/things for the laugh or as a service?
Only Rennala knows how to use the power of the larval tears through her amber egg, and if you don't have the great rune of the unborn you will die soon after your transformation, imo Zullie's explanation makes more sense
That might just be down to them not wanting to make unique transformation animations for a bunch of one-off random encounters most people will never see, with the exception being the troll who's a unique setpiece at the end of a questline. They'd have to animate the one creature turning to goo (which is tricky when it's not a blob already) and the other crawling out of it.
theres no lore or story reason for it. fromsoft just thought it would be funny. don't read too much into these things its a waste of time. plenty of better topics to speculate about.
That transforming wormface scared the hell out of me when I first saw it. I hate them one their own, but even more so when one appears an inch away from my face.
"It's just a prank, bro." -- Snowy Runebear as he appears from a cloud of mist to rip me to shreds.
I call this the "FromSoft trying to replicate the false sense of security moments in Dark Souls."
The music turns this into a promo for the Larval Cinematic Universe.
I'm surprised I didn't notice that every instance of this happening was accompanied by a tear.
this is one of my favorite features in elden ring i love when the demi-humans pop up out of nowhere screeching 😂😂
You have been selected for
🐒 🐒 🐒
A RANDOM CHIMP EVENT!!!
I love that you use King's Field music ♥️
Also from a game mechanic view, it punishes/rewards people who seek out to kill every thing in their path. So it offers a surprise and if completing- a cool reward for those folks
I'd like to think that there were characters who used the larval tears to undergo rebirth and become lobsters.
I feel like the reason I never thought this was the case is because the smoke they give off when transforming doesn't hurt you, which the mimic mist does.
I thought it was more of just a way for the developers to prank the player. I never thought about it past that. thanks zullie.
Mimic Tear would have been a really cool fight if it had a phase two where it would cycle through a few enemy types, depending on your play style.. if you fight at range it would adapt and become something quicker or a crucible knight with a shield, if you try to use heavy attacks it would become a Crab or land octopus or something… idk.
I think that would be fun.
The kneeling noble in the ruins near Leyndell that transforms into a Lion Guardian when you kill him.....yeah I needed a change of underwear that day...
With the introduction of Mimic Enemies we are now one step closer to Mimic Ladder/"Bonfire"
Honestly a cool reimagining of the iconic mimic
I just watched a 2 and a half minute video literally only relaying information that i already know, and I loved every second of it.
Zullie content just be hittin different.
It's just weird how that particular one in liurnia is the only one that doesn't start off as a noble, which in turn makes it one of the harder larval tears to get.
The Wormface actually also doesn't start off as a noble, it's hiding as a burning rotten corpse.
@@ZullietheWitch
True, yes, but it does still look humanoid and even instakills itself... whether you want it to or not. 😔
That crayfish jumpsacred the hell out of me the first time I saw it
That's so cool!!! I would sort of just laugh whenever that would happen, it felt like such a typical From Software joke so I never thought about it too much, but it's so cool that it makes complete sense within the lore!
Ah yes, the "implication". Got always sunny on my mind. Also, God damn that rune bear. Smacked that noble at level 3 on my first play through, he animorphed, and shrekked me.
I'm just now noticing the wormface looks eerily similar to a finger.
oh yeah your right. that's creepy.
When this first happened to me I genuinely thought I was being punished for farming weaker enemies.
honestly, I never thought I'd be surprised by a grafted scion in the middle of liurnia lake when I killed one of those sniper lobsters, I thought it was some rare encounter and didn't realize it was a transformation. I love this game.
i have yet to play this game and with every video i come across, i understand it even less. i love that
that specific crayfish is the first one i killed in the game which make me thought every crayfish will tranform after dead
The Rune bear jumpscare will always be one of my favorites honestly
"They don't have to be reborn but they will.. Because of the implication"
I've wondered... would an audiobook version of zullie's "fromsoft features" be popular? I love watching these to relax, the sounds of fromsoft games is like asmr to me tbh, and the music is great too, but if there was a soothing voice speaking the written explanations for each one.... man that would be amazing i'd listen to it all the time
The first time I have seen the wanderer transform into a runebear, it scared the crap out of me.
I just went back to that lobster and got the tear, thanks
one day they'll find out that the crab is the most perfect of beings and then it's all over for the lands between.
at first I always thought that one crayfish that turned into a grafted scion was a spy of Godrick's, but it just being a Mimic Tear makes more sense.
That damn rune bear transforming into the great rune bear scared the shit out of me
Dang. I always thought someone was transforming them, based on Boc saying someone turned him into a tree
That shapeshifting bear scared the SHIT outta me the first time around
Yes, finally someone covering the spontaneous Rune Bear.
Definitely got caught out by that surprise Rune Bear....
The noble that turned into margit scared the shit out of me lol probably my biggest wtf moment in the beginning days of the game especially since it was the 1st transformation I found
The only exception to the larval tear drop is the surprise Margit on Altus
This is the best souls channel.
I disagree with the conclusion that these enemies are larval tears as there's an early encounter that explains the situation very clearly:
Boc the seamster was transformed into a tree because wizards are generally assholes that would transform a runebear into a noble just to get said runebear out of their way.
Fun fact about that Mimic Tear that turns into a Troll: If you’re careful, you can sneak around the edge of that zone, get behind the Tear, and (if you’ve got good damage) kill it before it transforms. It’ll still have the Mimic Tear HP instead of the Troll HP. I discovered this by accident and it helped a lot because I suck at fighting Trolls.
Monster Camp’s Coach teaches you that “anything could be a Bear in disguise!”
First one I ever ran into was the Flame troll from the end of the video. Scared the heck out of me, as I was absolutely not prepared.
the rune bear fake out tore me to shreds the first time i met it
Larval tears = Witness protection program for monsters.