Haha I mean he can feel better, the definition of phobias are irrational fears, you wouldn't have a phobia of murderers because that's sensible, but spiders are harmless 99.9% of the time so we can laugh at her being silly I mean I have misophonia, absolutely hate the sound of slurping and chewing but I know it's not reasonable
@@KaladinVegapunk I mean, you can still feel weird about upsetting someone even if it isn't rational. Friends generally don't like seeing each other in distress whether or not there's any real danger.
@@KaladinVegapunk I wouldn't call having a fear of spiders irrational. Evolution could've designed spiders in any it wanted, and it went with a creepy crawling monstrosity with 8 legs and between 6-8 eyes for the shits and giggles. I acknowledge if it weren't for spiders, Earth would be drowning in unwanted pests, they have a valid role in the ecosystem. An important one as natural pest control. When you go to spiders as big as a Wolf Spider or Goliath Bird-Eating Spider, you have to ask nature why would it do that. Let's not forget some spiders that are poisonous. Yes, most are harmless, but you can question evolution's motives. I don't have arachnophobia, but they do give me the creeps. As long as they stay outside, I don't have problems.
I'm also an arachnaphobr, but have accepted I will see spiders in real life and games. I absolutely humiliated myself in a full cafeteria during science fair because a small spider had landed on my shirt.
1 of the funniest "aracnaphobia modes" I've seen is the one in Satisfactory where they replace the spiders with kitten png's and add mewing sfx instead of the skittering and hissing, I actually laughed when I 1st saw it 😂
@@ElLoboUK Wait, really? I usually turn it on because it makes them easier to spot in dark or foliage heavy environments, my only complaint is that the hitboxes don't line up perfectly
i was hoping someone would mention satisfactory, i never got affected by spiders in video games before but the ones in this game were scary to me (something about the animation and speed i think) the arachnophobia mode makes it very funny lol hello cat pngs
The huge ones which follows you so... so... so freaking long. You running away spamming the living shite out of the slide+jump while hearing the awful SCITTERING behind your back. I love insects but those moments has me squeeling like a beeeech lmao 😂😂 + Also i always nope the F away from the caves.
My dad has aphantasia so he literally can't imagine images/textures/tastes in his head, one of his favourite things is to mention "wet wool in your mouth" and watch people grimace but he's utterly unaffected I'm absolutely not telling him about _spiders_ in your mouth 😅😅
Anyone who doesn't think they make noise has never lived in Australia or the southern US. You can hear the bigger huntsman skittering across your walls at night.
the funny thing is that spiders have a really weird respiratory system that involves an organ on the bottom of their body opening and closing kinda like an accordion, called a book lung. In theory, if they were super large, they might huff and puff and hiss, but the sound wouldn't come from their mouth parts or face because their face has literally no connection to their respiratory system. There are actually some species that are big enough to hiss at you, its just most are too small to hear
An example of this is the Goliath Bird Eating Tarantula. But the hissing is made by rubbing it's front paws together and not air like us humans. But I agree with the huffing and puffing as it would possibly be loud if the spider was human sized.
The thing that gets me about the Wolf Spiders in Grounded is that they're FAST. They aren't slowed down just because they're bigger than you, they actually move like spiders
That's awesome, I love spiders, and I caught a beautiful Wolf Spider earlier this year...he is gorgeous and probably the biggest one of his breed that I've ever seen...nearly the size of my palm...thats including leg size
Fun fact from an arachnophobic comic artist: I once had to draw a series of storyboards for a Honey, I Shrunk the Kids-esque project in my sophomore year of school. The script, by my own idea (I'm a genius, obviously) contained a tightrope walk on a spiderweb. WELL. My team handed ME the spider scene. I spent the entire night that I worked on those boards sitting as far up in my chair as I could, drawing a little, puking into my trashcan, and then drawing some more. I also learned that day that I have a memorization technique in my art where I memorize the texture of whatever I'm trying to draw. It makes me really accurate without having to check my reference many times! It also made me burn myself in the shower later that night trying to un-imagine the texture of spider legs. What a trooper, Ellen!
Ellen's guttural goblin fear cackle is funny to me, but watching the love and care that went into making sure she's as comfortable as possible while being made uncomfortable was genuinely heartwarming. I love you guys; thank you for this, and please keep making more.
A certain spider-like monster that really freaks me out is Nerscylla from the old Monster Hunter games. Out of the various spider monster they've made, Nerscylla is definitely the most disgusting, fear-inducing, devious thing I've seen. Not only can she fling itself around using its webbing, it can also extend its jaw and has a really creepy and akward walking animation Recently, a friend of mine with arachnophobia was watching me play MH Generations Ultimate, and the moment that thing appeared on screen she jumped away from her seat. Moreover, the moment Nerscylla unhinged its jaw and extended its giant spring mandibles I had to pause the game bc she literally ran away from the room. That thing is truly nightmare fuel in its purest form
Nerscy isn't even an "old" monster. She's a CLASSIC monster(and a massive pain in my ass as a hammer user). Also, she's only been around for 2 generations. She's NOT old. If you want examples of old monsters, I can give you 3. Hypnockatrice is old. Queen Vespoid is old. King Shakalaka is old. Nerscylla is NOT old.
There's another spider monster that could also be suggested from the MH franchise, it's a new one introduced in gen 5, Rakna Kadaki from Rise Sunbreak.
Have you played Rise by any chance? I have mild arachnophobia aswell and for some reason Rakna Kadaki doesn't trigger it at all. Personally I think it's the movment all the dashes and drags they do.
Nerscylla was one of the first spiders i managed to get over in video games because once i knew all the moves i was able to handle it alot easier. it helped alot with getting my arachnaphobia under control. I still have it bad but it doesnt stop me from playubg games. though i did have to put down hogwartslegacy a couple times
Welcome fellow arachnophobes to the “I wasn’t brave enough to watch the video so instead I’m scrolled down here while the audio plays” club. We have snacks, and also no spooders.
My wife really struggled with the spider part of It Takes Two. I tried to zoom in so she couldn't actually see it was a recognisable spider. She screamed, cried, punched me and wouldn't play the game for a week. Apparently zooming in made it feel like it was on her face. Lesson learned!
For me, it's mainly the movement that gets me in video games. Ellen's worst one was mine too, primarily the movement was just too accurate. That's why it's nowhere near as bad without the legs. All of us recognise that pattern of leg movement and it's a massive trigger. That's why most of us don't care about other insects, they just don't move the same, other insects are pussies.
Me and a buddy played through It Takes Two and Grounded together, and luckily he isn't the worst arachnaphobe but to this day the scream he let out and then locked himself in our base for two nights after our first wolf spider encounter is trapped in my head, I'm proud of him for toughing it out to play with me and honestly, by the end he was fighting them more than I was lol
Nevermind the spiders, me and my GF are still traumatized to this day by the whole Cutie situation. That was one of the hardest things I've ever been through in a videogame, and I've been a gamer for 30+ years.
As an arachnophobe who's been pretty obsessed with Hollow Knight lately I just wanted to say!!! The Nosk doesn't even feel like a spooder, but it's the foreground/background silhouettes that crawl over your screen in Deepnest that made me drop my controller multiple times!! Screw those sprites they're not even enemies but they gave me nightmares 😭
I love the idea that as Ellen was reading out the note absolving Luke of all legal and moral ramifications, just out of shot Jane was holding a copy of Kingdoms of Amalur above a running blender.😂
3:27 Fun Fact!: Spiders aren't actually silent. The noises most species make are too high-pitched for the human ear to register, but larger species will audibly hiss when agitated.
You mean like the Arachnophobia film that starred Scar Jo that had a giant spider hissing, I still remember that spider vs cat fight in the walls that left indentations of the giant spider and the poor kitty
@@Saltmetall was it, dammit I got them mixed up, why did I think Arachnophobia was the film that had that then I just realised that guess it was 8 Legged Freaks that had Scar Jo and the cat vs giant spider Wall fight scene, you gotta admit that fight scene in the wall was pretty hilarious, I laughed a lot even though the film was just scary because of all those huge spiders
Something that could be fun is having Ellen react to "Lucas the Spider" because from what I've heard, it sounds like it helps people with arachnophobia at least a little bit.
@@harlgg Dave‘s Little Beasties is full of arachnophobes, come join us. He has mostly tarantulas, but also some true spiders, frogs, and centipedes. Super chill dude, highly recommended.
I really can’t stand spiders, not phobic but I can’t sleep if I know one is in the house somewhere… except for jumping spiders. I’m fine with those. Even if they jump onto me. They look too adorable to be scary.
@@ArDeeMeenever heard of that. I did come across something similar by the sounds of it in the oast though. RUclips channel called Exotic's Lair pretty sure it was called. Had some vids of feeding/watering his collection of spiders/snakes and scorpions. I don't really see how it would be anything but confrontational for someone with an actual arachnophobia though?
The speed at which Luke realises that it would be funny to scream at 5:20 is exactly why he's so witty with one liners in RPGs too - and ditto for the rest of the oxboxtra crew. Comedy geniuses.
The entirety of the horribleness of the spiders has been offset by Ellen admitting her crush on Cel Kestis, which is the purest most precious thing that's ever happened.
That spider feels particularly egregious because there's literally no reason to have giant spiders in a Star Wars game. Make up your own space monster, devs!
@@michaelpirrone Haha in fairness this is a sci-fantasy universe where every sapient race looks remarkably human :-P (and seriously SW... *sapient*... the word you want is *sapient*, not *sentient*... like literally every form of animal life is sentient... lol)
I think the level of fear I feel towards any spider is directly proportional to how *heavy* the spider is. Like sure, the ones that make the light pitter-y sounds when they walk aren’t my favorite, but the ones that _make an audible _*_thump_*_ sound with each eight steps they take_ are what REALLY make me want to eject myself from my own skin 💀 I also hate when a huge spider is in its web and they go the extra mile to add the sound of the web strands straining under the heavy weight of the spider 😭😭 (P.S: watching this video made me paranoid about whether any spiders/bugs are in my room or on me now lmao. The lights have officially been TURNED ON!!! 💀)
@@Optional-Slag Oh definitely! I don’t play many games that include spiders of that magnitude, but so far Grounded and Hogwarts Legacy are both games that I feel fit those unfortunate spider characteristics 🥲
I wonder how Ellen would react to Balder's Gate 3's spiders, mainly the phase spiders. The game is a turn based overhead tactical game so they're not in-your-face. These spiders also teleport so when a batch of eggs hatch, they will teleport to your party and quickly surround them.
If you actually want to know BG3 from an arachnophobe's perspective, I stopped all quests... to become a pest exterminator. I went to the harper's outpost and set fire to the spider nest up there in the crag-completely unnecessary! You can get the treasure from there and never fight a spider! I burned the spider eggs, they hatched and became pet spiders/allies that were going to fight the spiders from the nest I burnt. I killed them before they even had a chance to help me. I was a pest exterminator with extreme prejudice. I was more concerned by the infested monsters covered in baby spiders than the phase spiders themselves, but I used Astarion's burning hands before they even came close so it wasn't a problem. I stealthed through the cave little by little, luring phase spiders a couple at a time until by the point I reached the matriarch I had silently destroyed half of her egg clutch (all the right-side ones of course) and initiated the fight in turn based mode by one-shot-killing a phase spider below. So the boss fight was my level 3 party, one matriarch, only half the babies, and one other phase spider. Even when she laid more instantly hatching eggs, it was too late at that point and her fate was pretty much sealed. I went through the whispering depths afterward to ensure total genocide by destroying all the egg sacs, even though they don't do anything and they're basically just stylized lanterns. I saw evidence of spiders in the underdark (of course, lolth) but no actual spiders, yet I still dedicated time to burning every last egg. Just in case. So your answer is pest control. An arachnophobe's response to phase spiders is that actually they're fine because they're bright blue and teleport around. The times I was jumpscared in that cave were when I thought I had cleared it out and suddenly skittering blue legs of the matriarch appeared in the upper right corner of my screen. Walking is scarier than teleporting every time.
11:30 or so - I feel like Nosk is definitely a creepy/scary enemy, but is also definitively not a spider. It's likely not going to trigger the arachnophobia, just the regular creepy vibes detector
Deepnest as a whole is scarier than Nosk imo. The overlayed effect of spiders crossing the screen in deepnest, the skittering sound effects and the claustrophobic design made me so uncomfortable when I was first exploring without a map 😢
I think the lead-up to that fight is scarier than the fight itself tbh. The notion of following a mysterious doppelganger down some narrow corridors filled with the dessicated corpses of various bugs, knowing that whatever lies ahead can't be anything good, the anticipation is much worse than the reveal. It might be the scariest part of the game for me, either that or the room with the corpse creepers when you try and save Zote.
As mentioned, there indeed is a difference between a fear and a phobia, because the key to a phobia is that it is either an irrational fear, or an irrational level of fear. A rational person can often identify when their fear is irrational, but that doesn't prevent the feeling of fear that the phobia is causing.
The country but just to add to the discussion, one of the descriptions I have seen is a hardwire from a subject to the fight or flight response of the brain that shortcuts everything else.😊
I describe it as the difference between the feeling you get in a haunted maze attraction, running from the chainsaw man vs. actually finding a man with a machete or chainsaw in your actual house. Both are scary, but only one makes you feel like you are actually gonna die and that's the difference between people who find spiders scary or unpleasant vs arachnophobes like me. Spiders (and things that look too much like apiders) make me feel like I'm gonna die.
Yup which is how I figured out my fear of snakes is actually a phobia. 😅 rationally, I know I have no need to be THAT afraid of snakes, I understand they have a place in this world and a role to play, but I am absolutely TERRIFIED none the less. 😅
@@ChronicElliIt's weird as I'm not scared of pictures or videos of spiders (even though they are still creepy) but if there was a spider in my bed I'd jump up, scream like a little girl, grab my shoe and start slapping it around. This all came after I got bit by a Brown Recluse.
Luke's "just set me on fire" is one of the most relatable things I've heard haha As someone who doesn't particularly love insects and experiences sensory issues, insects on my body is my own personal circle of hell.
I hate having a spider touch my skin as the feeling is awful, heck I don't like feeling them on my head, had a spider crawl on my hand twice and about 3 or so years ago I had a spider somehow appear on my head, I felt something weird so ran my hand on my head to then see a spider on my hand, flicked my hand to the right and it landed down the side of my bed until I got the vacuum and sucked it into it's grave. But something I still remember to this day was when still living with family, I was in my bedroom which was next to the living room which my bedroom before it became one was a smoking room, so a few years ago I was sitting in my bedroom watching Freak Show which was the 4th season of AHS until I saw something at the corner of my left eye move down, so I got up off my bed to turn on the light and what do I happen to see covering a majority of my bedroom curtain which my bed was directly under it but a huge spider which you could fit in two hands close together, maybe more, so I left the room to only come back and found it vanished like a Ninja, turned out it decided to go under my bed covers and I was like "I'm not going to sleep in that bed as I didn't wanna wake up to it on me"
@@eris9062I'm the same way. I _adore_ spiders, but I don't want them on my person. At all. Not even voluntarily. The little gentle, sweeping, tapping, caressing feelings as they move across my skin just causes the most unpleasant sensation imaginable to me. I don't really understand why. I find it sad, actually, especially when I find a jumping spider that I want to pick up and make friends with!
My phobia isn't as bad as some peoples (like Ellen), when I see them I sort of get anxious and not want to look. But if a spider gets on me I will scream and shut down. I will not move until it is gone except to try and throw it away from me
The hunt showdown spider was one of the only times I was genuinely scared in a game, I saw it and threw a lamp at it to set it on fire and hearing it scramble around the room while screaming was terrifying
Huge props to Ellen for being an absolute trooper and going through with these videos, despite how primal and overwhelming her phobia is. That said, in the event of a future video where she comes back for another round, I have a weird idea for another spider. I am suggesting a re-visiting of the spiders from Minecraft, but with the Nyf's Spiders mod applied. It overhauls the functionality of spiders in a way that makes them much more difficult, and much more frightening, by actually letting them climb walls and ceilings, orienting themselves properly to do so, and by extension upgrading their pathfinding to make proper use of this new mobility. I feel like this would be an especially interesting addition, because it's an unofficial mod, and it's making one of the less scary spiders already covered more scary. Of course, only do this if Ellen is willing to do one more go in the future.
One of the scary/weird things about the scorpion things in Metro is that it's heavily suggested that they aren't a result of radiation...they were always down in the dark.
The spider section in 2033 remake took me longer than the entirety of Frontline, in Exodus the Satellite bunker was worse for me than the fucking Library
I am a Big Fan of spiders, and sometimes in these videos ellen says something to herself that isn't true about spiders, and because I think they're neat, I want to go "oh, no, there's is a spider that ..." and then i realize that ellen probably doesn't want to know those things. It is almost certainly more of a comfort to NOT know those things. 😂
As someone who tried to cure her arachnophobia when she was younger by watching nature shows about them (spoilers, it didn't work lol), I seriously appreciate your realisation haha...! - E
People with Arachnophobia will agree that spiders are absolutely terrifying and should just burn or better still Australians will agree that spiders should just die, I mean have you seen how huge they get down there, I won't be going there anytime soon. I can't even look at a nature book or photos on the Internet of spiders without either yeeting the book across the room or getting extremely sick to my stomach looking at images of spiders on the Internet, I'm surprised how many colours a spider can get as I've seen a cobalt blue tarantula on Google images and even though I love the colour, the spider is still creepy
Same, I’m literally an entomologist, and I’ve had pet spiders that I’ve loved very much. I genuinely admire Ellen’s bravery so so much and will offer up other Meaningless Animal Facts that my head are chock full of instead lol
She thought the black spiders in Bloodborne were a boss fight, for example. It reads to me that simply knowing they exist is the only information she needs and anything beyond is unnecessary exposure.
I mean.. yeah, if it invokes that level of fear in reality when the cause itself is fake/digital then I'm all in favour of noping the hell out ahead of time, don't willingly put yourself in that position if it's not the fun kind of being scared. :D I also genuinely appreciate the warning in Grounded as we have friends who are also hugely scared of spiders and simply knowing they were there was enough until we found the "angry floating blob" option. :)
I love that more games are employing arachnophobia safe modes these days, but what they have taught me is that, even if you turn a spider into a beachball with roller-skate legs, if you still make it move like a spider, make it run up on the player and skitter and hiss in the typical video game spider fashion, and cover the environment in webs, it is still terrifying. All of the "SPIDER!!!" cues that paralyze your animal brain with fear are still there.
"bolted out of the room in sheer panic out 10" was something unexpected even from Ellen, specially when she has her own series about beating these types of videogames. Brave girl, Ellen
yea, that's the "irrational" part of the phobia, it doesn't matter how brave you are or how much you know that it can't get you it is still "Fight, Fright or Flight" only. I know she knows it will be temporary and very entertaining but still very brave Ellen for this, once let alone three times. We Want More, We Want Four!! though she can have a year to relax we can wait 😄
Until the lab coat came out I wasn't convinced this is actually for science, but the safety goggles and rubber gloves really sealed it 😂 P.S.: Ellen you're a legend! 🤘
@@zanite8650 If I remember rightly, those are from Dicebreaker testing the durability of a card protector case by shooting it with a shotgun and setting it on fire. Just one of the many times they've somehow managed not to die from toxic fume inhalation.
I still remember walking into a cave in Skyrim, looking up and a spider descending from the ceiling and you would’ve thought it was in the room with me with how I reacted.
6:39 I have a fear of bees and wasps and I can totally relate, it's not the visual but the sound. It takes a split second to distinguish between the buzz of a bee and a beetle, or a wasp and a fly, and every unknown buzz is 10000% a bee.
I don't have a fear of bees, wasps and flies but I don't like the buzzing and due to having ADHD and having a noise sensitivity especially to loud noises, I flinch to the sound of them buzzing, though a few months ago I went to a picnic meet and I ended up getting tormented by a wasp and I couldn't eat without it coming to me which my adrenaline went crazy until friends said to try stay calm because my adrenaline was giving off a scent for that wasp so maybe I have a little fear of buzzing insects but I wouldn't call it a phobia, I just hate the buzzing sound when near my ear
4:40 Scytodidae catch their prey by spitting a fluid that congeals on contact into a venomous and sticky mass. The fluid contains both venom and spider silk in liquid form, though it is produced in venom glands in the chelicerae. The venom-laced silk both immobilizes and envenoms prey such as silverfish. In high-speed footage the spiders can be observed swaying from side to side as they "spit", catching the prey in a criss-crossed "Z" pattern; it is criss-crossed because each of the chelicerae emits half of the pattern. The spider usually strikes from a distance of 10 to 20 millimetres (0.39 to 0.79 in) and the entire attack sequence only lasts 1/700th of a second.[5] After making the capture, the spider typically bites the prey with venomous effect, and wraps it in the normal spider fashion with silk from the spinnerets.[6]
I actually want to thank you because the wolf spider happened to be common where I grew up (I didn't know but I recognized the pattern on it). This matters to me in particular because I was bitten by a spider as a 3-4 year old and was paralyzed for a while because of it. It helps me find out what exactly bit me
Sorry to hear that happened to you @psychlycan, I would hope that I don't get bitten by any kind of spider because I've seen unpleasant images of certain types of spider bites and I rather avoid and deep gaping wounds on my body from a spider bite
The scariest real life spider is of course the Coconut Crab. Now, i understand that crabs are traditionally not considered to be spiders. Bear in mind, this thing can climb trees like a spider. It's also got strong claws, is surprisingly fast, eats meat, travels in swarms, and are large. The scary part about that last one? To be large in nature means you are successful enough to eat well. They are literally nightmare fuel. Also possibly the cause of death of Amelia Airheart.
I haven't even got arachnophobia and that Bloodborne spider made me shudder. Ellen is an absolute trooper for putting herself through this for a third time. Props to Luke as well for being very supportive, knowing when to stop showing the spiders and for the after care kittens.
Arachnids and insects as a whole are just unsettling. Their shape and their behavior is completely contrary to everything else on this earth. 4 limbs and 2 eyes is the standard for every other species on this planet, including most fish, with 2 flippers and a tail with 2 fins. Even those freaky deep sea fish still hold to that number. Bugs violate all of those rules. 6 legs at minimum, some having odd numbers of legs, multiple eyes, everything is just wrong. Not to mention that they act weird. Every other animal on earth stays away from humans unless we specifically train it to like us, because we're a threat. Bugs, on the other hand, will happily go anywhere, even into your fucking mouth, for no reason whatsoever. They have no survival instinct
having just binge watched all of the ranking spiders videos, it really is fascinating diving into what exactly about the various spiders does or doesn't set off the phobia. while not arachnophobic, I do have an extreme phobia of wasps (spheksophobia or something like that iirc), and a lot of the points brought up really helped me to better understand and evaluate my own phobia and why some things trigger it and others don't. power of association and realism definitely being some of the best shown points throughout. thank you so much for making these videos and facing your fears so that others can learn and understand what goes through the mind of someone experiencing phobia.
@@VernulaUtUmbra I hated that mode in Satisfactory, unless they changed it but when i first tried it they were all glitchy and moved way too fast and made me super uncomfortable
Once again I'm reminded how grateful I am that snakes are so difficult for video games to animate realistically. Big props to Ellen for her bravery in making these videos, and big props to Luke too, for demonstrating why she trusts him, and for really working to understand the phobia too.
Surprised that they never mentioned the Ducal Spiders from Dark Souls 2. They're one of the reasons why it took me so long to get through Brightstone Cove.
Mate I don’t have Arachnophobia but that area freaked me the hell out and has, ever since had me warning anyone I know with arachnophobia trying DS2 for the first time about Brightstone Cove Tseldora
That bit about the phobia brain being separate from the rational brain is a really huge thing to mention so thank you for that! I have stepnophobia (fear of ladders) and its very hard to explain to people. Ladders or step-ladders set off the strange, irrational, primal fear. People try to get me to justify it but its irrational! I appreciate you taking phobias seriously! 💚💚
I have no idea what a phobia of drains is called, but I have that. I'm fine with showers, but anything that holds water and has a drain is a big nope. Swimming pools set it off big time; even the filter flap things along the sides of a pool set it off. The drain, grate thing that's always in the deep end is a major nope. It's why I love the ocean and like lakes all right, but I hate swimming pools. Bathtubs honestly set it off a bit and I'm glad I take showers instead. Sinks are okay because I'm not actually immersed in the water. So yeah, I get it with phobias being difficult to explain to people. Especially ones like ours.
Hey just wondering, does the ladder have to be in use to set off your phobia or is it just the sight of one that does it? Follow up question if it's the second scenario, if the ladder is laying flat on the ground or strapped sideways on a work truck will it trigger the phobia or does the ladder need to be standing up straight and leaning against something like it's about to be used?
@@DesidiosumCorporosumHominis Heya! There's kinda levels to it. If I see one that's in storage or something along those lines, I start to develop this weird scene of dread/paranoia. I'll be on edge about it but ultimately I'll be ok. If it's set up, either free standing ones or leaning ones, that same dread comes as well as becoming physically stressed. The closer I get, the worse it gets. I'll start shaking and sweating. If it's in use, I often need to leave entirely because I start to panic and feel nauseous in addition to all the other stuff. The one time I ever used a ladder, I had a full blown panic attack that lasted about 20 minutes. So to actually answer your question, yes. Just the sight of one can set me off.
I have a phobia of an on oven (especially if nothing is being cooked/baked) and people always try to explain it away and I have to say “It’s called irrational for a reason!”
Here is a slightly strange thing that genuinely helped me get rid of my arachnophobia almost completely: reading the book Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. It largely revolves around uplifted jumping spiders, and the kind of society and culture they’d develop. Spending time reading a book about spiders (who are friendly and generally just little dudes living their lives) ended up removing the association between spiders and something scary, replacing it with the spiders from the book instead. So now when I see spiders, I might still feel a bit scared, but it’s quickly overtaken by just thinking “ah yes, one of Portia’s friends, I see” (Portia is a spider from the book).
I was expecting it too especially when they started showing us the images on the screen...but ellen had already gone through enough it would've been too mean :P
and you just articulated not only why I should never be in a relationship with an arachnophobe, but in general why it's kinda just best I stay home and play tug of war with my dog.
The worst part of the Bloodborne spiders is when you're in the Chalice Dungeons and they just throw an infinite amount of them that home in on you from wherever they spawn
Rom isn't so bad, but I agree about the Challice Dungeons those Nightmare Apostles are fast and nasty. At least with the Mergo Tower area you know they're there but a jumpscare from a Challice Dungeon will make you crap yourself. Just no.
@@leoleo1035Rom's fight wasn't bad at all for me. Rom herself isn't even a Spider (she's a fluffy potato with like 30 legs) and her minions barely resemble Spiders too. The way they move doesn't bother me at all.
On the topic of arachnophobia modes, i think more games should take the Lethal Company route and just replace them with a png of text that says "SPIDER" because i think that is peak comedy
Ellen might legit be the bravest person on the face of the planet with how often she powers through all these things that terrify her, massive props to you Ellen o7
I'm surprised Satisfactory's Stinger wasn't reviewed yet, devs actually had to add an arachnophobia mode to replace the stinger model with aggressive kittens
I was curious about the arachnophobia mode and I feel like it's worse for some reason, I don't have arachnophobia but those scuttling kittens freak me out way more than the originals do
@@Obvious72 Even in passive mode when I last played, horrible... Due to association even just hearing the meowing freaks me out still. Glad that whenever I get time to play again update 8 will allow to get rid of them completly
Ellen going "Oh the noises are not pleasant" during the hollow knight one makes me laugh because my pet tarantulas sound exactly like that when they run. And while I'm not necessarily scared of them, I am nervous about how fast they run (mostly because I'd rather not have one escape. they run so fast)
It's like the Kalashnikov gun breaking videos. When they started, he was just wearing a standard issue 6B43 ballistic vest. Now, he makes Tachanka look naked by comparison
I love that you all truly care about Ellen's fear and do your best to have her feel safe while doing these videos for us. I also enjoy the cute animal photos at the end. Always smiling at them and Ellen's reactions to them
As someone with acrophobia (fear of heights), it is a totally irrational fear, and we know it. I had a friend try to comfort me when we were going on a crazy high rollercoaster by talking about how safe it is; I knew I wasn't going to fall out and die, phobias just provoke that kind of visceral reaction regardless. Props to Ellen for braving this! It isn't easy!
As a video game arachnophobe myself, I find Ellen’s reactions extremely entertaining and relatable. I’m super glad you finally covered both the Fallen Order and non-boss Bloodborne spiders (I’m sure I recommended them at some point too)! The Fallen Order ones I got used to, but I really hated the Bloodborne ones, so much so that I have always just sprinted through that room trying my best not to look at anything. In any case, I wanted to pull up my old comment about the Conan Exiles spiders for the next round! “I realize this was months ago and you'll probably never see this, but regardless! Would love to see Ellen's reaction to the spiders in Conan Exiles (both the small ones and giant ones). At first the little ones made me really uncomfortable (especially the way they curl up and go all limp when you kill them). But omg the giant ones. I noped right back to where I came from the first time I saw one in the distance. Another time when playing co-op, I accidentally got my friend to shoot an arrow at one in the distance - after a few seconds it started approaching but I thought "we're on a cliff, we should be fine", but I turned the camera and saw it walking up an incline to the side of the cliff (thankfully I did not get the full image of it). Without thinking I jumped off the cliff and ran away. My friend (who had not seen what I had seen) was understandably confused until he turned around and I heard him scream in terror. It's just the way they move, and this one was hairy, and so high definition, and had so much health, just urgghh.” Thanks again for all the screams! Erm, I mean streams 🙂
I really like spiders and I love snakes, but I hurried my way through the Forbidden Woods and the Nightmare of Mensis anyway. I'd have been slightly better with both areas if they just hadn't put so many of the damn things in the areas and made them super strong. I end up looking up item locations and just running around the Forbidden Woods only fighting when I had no other choice. For that room in the Nightmare of Mensis I took the roundabout way to drop down, grabbed the items and got the hell out of there. At least the Nightmare Apostle can't fit through the doors.
It's the return of the labcoat! Love it when it makes an appearance. Kudos to Ellen for being so brave and doing this for a third time. Kudos to Luke for being a good friend (and scientist) by looking out for Ellen throughout and after the experiment
If by some chance there's a part three to this, I'd like to see how she ranks the spiders in Rain World. I don't consider myself to be an arachnophobe and I don't tend to scare easily in games, but those fuckers freaked me out to no end when I encountered them. There are four different spider enemies in the game (including DLC), and all of them are pretty damn terrifying in their own way. It's made even worse by the fact that A) they're usually found in the darkest regions and are darkly colored, making them even harder to see compared to most other creatures, and B) the game does a pretty good job of hammering in the fact that while you might not be defenseless, you are still VERY weak and VERY much at the bottom of the food chain in this massive ecosystem.
Huge kudos again to Ellen! Also very surprised The Spider from Hunt wasn't more triggering, but the chat afterwards really helped bring things into perspective
As soon as I saw the title of this video, I instantly thought of Bloodbourne and thought Ellen would have a huge time with the Nightmare Apostle. I literally fell out of my chair laughing when she fled the room! I love that you're tackling your phobia, Ellen! Great vid, guys!
I would have liked to see a more detailed breakdown of the Grounded arachnophobia settings, and whether each step actually addresses the right features to make it less spidery before committing to full blob
I can't believe you haven't done the actual worst spiders in video games, the ones from Dragon Age. Especially the monstrous spiders in Dragon Age 2 that drop from the ceiling. It's one of my favorite games, and I spend a good forty percent of it with my head turned away from the screen, blindly fighting spiders.
Thank every god ever worshipped for the DA companion AI! Every time I was in a spider cave in DA:I, I was just like, “Okay, Bull! You got this! You go trigger their aggro, I’ll be… over here…”)
Agreed, Ellen finds the Skulltullas cute. But when I was 6, area at the bottom of the well was truly terrifying. Spider jumpscares and a room full of torture devices. Yay 😮💨
As a father of a daughter with phobias, I instinctively wanted to give Ellen a safe place to hide as soon as she yeeted herself away from the Bloodborne spider. Way to hang in there gurl and thank you Luke et al for your care in approaching this presentation. Your desire to preserve Ellen's dignity was clear to see and has encouraged me to support your Patreon since you're obviously good people!
With all the love you've been giving FromSoft's spiders I'm really surprised I didn't see anything about Duke's Dear Freja in this one. Currently playing through Dark Souls 2 and the most difficulty I've had progressing so far is getting to the first room in Brightstone Cave Tseldora and realizing that the entire next area would be filled with spiders crawling out of dark places. I'd feel so validated seeing Ellen's reaction to all the bullshit spider rooms in that area, maybe even that strange NG+ mini-encounter with Freja before getting to her boss room
Respect this so much, as someone who has a couple of phobias (including arachnophobia and especially one of centipedes (terrible creatures its like a spider but with even more legs and nastier movement)) it's always so strangely comforting to know there's others like me experiencing this level of fear at what you KNOW most people dont reeact to at all - just to know I'm not just being dramatic, it is actually that bad and thats okay. Also added to, massive props also to Luke for how respectful he is of the phobia - that's genuinely a rare thing and it really adds a lot.
Thank you both for doing this. Somehow the combination of Ellen facing our mutual fear and Luke's genuine empathy and willingness to stop when it gets too much is a huge help for me in watching these clips as well. The spiders from Satisfactory genuinely caused me to have a panic attack the first time I encountered them while jetpacking over the pink swamp. I'd been playing in peaceful mode so I'm just be-bopping around my little factory game when all of a sudden I'm surrounded by spindly-legged creeping horrors that are *leaping* into the sky to bite me. Even the cat gifs didn't help. Thankfully, they've added true-arachnophobia mode so we can enjoy exploiting the environment in peace. XD
I know he is generally a behind the scenes man, but Jon has made enough of an on screen presence that, particularly for videos like this, I would love a bonus video or short of his reactions to filming stuff like this. For example, I would love to see what must have been Jon silently bursting with laughter when Ellen just ran off camera after the Bloodbourne spider
Thank you Ellen, for being unbelievably brave. P.S. recently got my hands of kingdoms of amalur: rereckoning, and am enjoying it even more than i did the original release i believe.
I was reminded of a spider moment that spooked me a number of years back in, of all things, the MMO World of Warcraft. First expansion, in the Terrokar zone, is a forest of spiders. Not unusual for that game, there are more than a few of those…except this one had, in a spot where you wouldn’t immediately see it from the ground, a red spider the size of a house. Doing quests to kill the other spiders, ride up a hill, and just see these red legs sticking out from around a bend in the path was a total “oh hell no” and go the opposite direction moment. Only time a creature that game ever spooked me too.
very highly doubt ellen will want to do one of these videos again (and she's incredibly brave as always if she does), but i'd be fascinated to see her take on the phase spiders from baldur's gate 3. bright unrealistic colours, but very realistic moving and can teleport practically on top of you. a close friend of mine is an arachnophobe and reloaded his save the moment he got into combat with them and saw how they moved
I can deal with the phase spiders (mostly due to the colors) it is the realistic ones, like the ones in the Goblin camp that chills my veins. Though funnily as soon as I worked up the courage to talk to them (using Speak with Animals) it got way better for me. Maybe putting a voice and personality to them just skewed them into the unrealistic zone.
i usually would never watch something with this many spiders as a fellow arachnophobe but ellen was being brave for us so solidarity. i did cry several times.
I didn't cry myself, but I absolutely couldn't look at the screen for as long as she did on any of these except for nosk. We did our best in solidarity. I'd say we both deserve hugs, but I personally won't be able to stand being touched for the 12-24hrs so...❤
I can totally relate, I have this uncontrollable fear of fish in the water, can’t play any swimming levels, especially with fish or sharks. I remember I had to invite my friend over to finish water level in American mc’gee alice. I m such a fan of the game, but could never play that part.
Out of all the spider videos this is the first time I've seen her skidaddle off screen, lol. If she decides to do another round of this, i suggest the spider queen from Okami
I thought it was the only time, but I wasn't completely sure. I'm not too surprised that it was the Nightmare Apostle that caused that reaction. I actually really like spiders, but even I had an "eff this noise" response. Not as scary as the Upper Cathedral Ward for me, but still a whole big room of nope. The weird spider-ish things in Dark Souls 3 freaked me out worse, but I think there are only 2 or 3 in the entire game.
@@kimberlyharris980 I've never gotten far enough in Skyrim to really encounter any spiders (I got bored with it, lol). I'll have to look it up. I know Ellen's mentioned that she also can't really play Skyrim because of the spiders. At least, nothing beyond what they do with Kippers and the challenges and such.
Eh, I doubt it’d get a big reaction. It never really felt like a spider since it had a face, human hands, and a flower bulb instead of a back segment. Something like Last Year: After Dark or Freja from Dark Souls would probably be worse
@@Urahara451 I don't think the spider ladies from Dark Souls were much of a problem for Ellen. I know she summoned for the boss fight, but I don't think she was particularly freaked out about it. I wonder how the Armored Spider (I think that's the right name) from Demon's Souls would be though (both the original and the remake to compare the 2).
it´s a nice idea but still terrifiing :( it would be a "nice" idea to test other phobias like Thalassophobia too (absolutely disgusting because i have it) there are good sea areas like Animal Crossing, Pokemon, Shadow of the Colossus, World of Warships, and more. A bit scarier are Skyrim, Horizon Forbidden West, Conan Exiles and Assassins Creed Valhalla (if you know what i mean), where you don´t have this fear. But there are very good examples too, where you are in fear over the whole time (SOMA, Far Cry 3, Bioshock, Subnautica, Raft, ABZU, Stranded Deep, Assassin´s Creed Origins and Odyssey (i think more in the beginning and it slows down over time when you grow stronger (or when you have Poseidon´s Fork and play Beyblade around sharks)) A very interesting game for me was Maneater! My first thought was that i would hate this game (not because it is bad more that i want to play but cant it (like Ellen said about Metro) but i really liked it. It was funny and has many Eastereggs. I think the major point was that i am not a weak human inside of the whole water area full of deadly creatures. I was the deadly creature myself. The same goes about the Genshin Impact Water Country Fontaine. At first i thought that i wouldnt like it. Okay Genshin Impact has a wonderful music and art style but since i knew that we can dive my fear was awake... Fontaine is eventually one of my favourite areas^^' for my point is that i hate seas and water areas (in games, series, movies, real life and even to hear about it) because i dont know whats inside and around me, all of it inside is better than me, i don´t have real control over myself and the area around me and the further you go down it will go darker and darker and the creatures even more horrible. Thalassophobia is absolutely cruel but you can try to avoid water areas^^ (and then you see and hear, that people jump and dive in seas or the ocean or plains and ships crush into the ocean :( :( :( ) I know that there are a lot more examples than mine but these are some of my experiences with this phobias in games (and yes i played through a lot of them and some are platinum). I would love to hear from other persons with this/my Phobia how they think about my text and examples and how they feel about them.
I think that would be really interesting in the same uncomfortable way as these videos. I'm terrified of spiders but I have that morbid curiosity that makes me watch these. My thalassaphobia is pretty moderate, comparatively, but to everyone around me it seems ridiculous and illogical because I live really close to the ocean and have been surrounded by water my whole life. 😅
I've got "mild aquaphobia", which means I'm only "uncomfortable" around water, including showers/rain, but I also had no problem playing Maneater. They did something magical with that game, it seems. Did try Subnautica in the past, because PS+ bonus game, and... the shallows you start in is bad enough for me to know that I'll never finish it. Am OK with Bioshock though, but I assume that there not being any water _immediately_ around you during playing made it not trigger me I guess.
Oh, I have Thalassophobia! The worst one for me was the brief underwater section in the Mass Effect 3 Leviathan DLC. Made me actually want to throw up, good lord
I forgot to leave a comment when I first watched to say that while I don't have arachnophobia, I'm happy to see games like Grounded have modes to change the spiders in some way. Another that has done it for spiders as well as snakes is Forewarned. Good to see devs do this for players or potential players.
Spiders do need eyes. Only some build webs, quite a few are active hunters. There’s a really cool one called a bolos spider that catches prey with a long thread of silk with a sticky blob at the end that it whirls around with its front legs. It’s capable of amazing accuracy. Don’t google pics of them if you have arachnophobia, because they’re rather awful looking. Not like the happy face spiders of Hawaii, which reward checking out with a big friendly grin.
As someone who doesn't have arachnophobia, and loves bugs (with the term "bugs" being used loosely here), I think someone NEEDS to put giant bolas spiders in a game.
These videos are always so interesting to me to watch. I suffer from severe arachnophobia when it comes to actual spiders in real life, but when it comes to video games, movies, etc, I'm not bothered by them in the slightest. In fact, I think it's partly because I have such a fear of them in real life yet don't with fictional ones, that in games I often go out of my way to have them as pets or summons when games allow it. I think in my case it's less necessarily a fear of spiders themselves, so much as a fear of the unknown, and more importantly not knowing what they're going to do or how they're going to react to me being nearby. I have the same fear to a lesser degree with most insects, but it's probably amplified a bit with spiders due to how dangerous their bites can be, even knowing that most household spiders aren't actually a threat. Whenever I see one, even if I am fairly certain it's not dangerous, the fear part of my brain is constantly screaming at me that I don't know that for sure, and that I have no idea if it's going to randomly come towards me and bite me.
I keep recommending Dave‘s Little Beasties to other arachnophobes. He’s such a chill guy, perfect for learning about spiders and tarantulas. Never handles them, always keeps a respectful distance. Unless he’s pulling an egg sac, but that’s more of a special occasion. ^^
The Earth Defense Force series has a couple of types of spiders (all much larger than the player) One in particular has a REALLY terrifying design (as in it's just a real spider). But it's offset because they don't do the skittering motions, and you're usually equipped with rocket launchers and missiles to deal with them
If I knew you were doing this again I would've suggested the cave spider enemies in satisfactory. Luckily for arachnophobes, satisfactory has an arachnophobia mode where it puts cat pictures over the enemies. Another funny arachnophobia mode is in rhythm doctor where a spider shows up in 1 tutorial and you can have it be covered up by a hand that comes from off screen
Grounded's wolf spider is surprisingly stealthy too....and it is beyond terrifying when it's your first night and you turn around and see *that*. As a bonus (don't do this to yourself Ellen!) the infected wolf spider genuinely made me pause the game and just....nope out for a while.
I had a huge one cover the middle of my bedroom curtain when I was still living with family, I didn't even have the bedroom light on, just the light of my TV and I saw something move down my curtain, turned on the light to see that huge spider I just mentioned, I left the room, came back to see it have disappeared until my mum tried looking and it ran under my duvet and I'm like, "I'm sleeping in the living room as was not sharing my bed with that monster" didn't wanna wake up to see it on me
Spiders do actually hiss, often as part of a warning, that isn't just made up by video games, though it's often not able to be heard by people since spiders are very small and not usually near peoples ears. There are some great videos on youtube of people capturing their tarantulas hissing at intruding microphones though.
I love the, "This is Ellen's idea, I feel super weird showing spiders to an arachnaphobe" disclaimer.
Haha I mean he can feel better, the definition of phobias are irrational fears, you wouldn't have a phobia of murderers because that's sensible, but spiders are harmless 99.9% of the time so we can laugh at her being silly
I mean I have misophonia, absolutely hate the sound of slurping and chewing but I know it's not reasonable
@@KaladinVegapunk I mean, you can still feel weird about upsetting someone even if it isn't rational. Friends generally don't like seeing each other in distress whether or not there's any real danger.
@@KaladinVegapunk I wouldn't call having a fear of spiders irrational. Evolution could've designed spiders in any it wanted, and it went with a creepy crawling monstrosity with 8 legs and between 6-8 eyes for the shits and giggles. I acknowledge if it weren't for spiders, Earth would be drowning in unwanted pests, they have a valid role in the ecosystem. An important one as natural pest control.
When you go to spiders as big as a Wolf Spider or Goliath Bird-Eating Spider, you have to ask nature why would it do that. Let's not forget some spiders that are poisonous. Yes, most are harmless, but you can question evolution's motives. I don't have arachnophobia, but they do give me the creeps.
As long as they stay outside, I don't have problems.
@@rangerslayer2260there is rational and irrational fear, aracnophobes would lose it if you showed the smol garden spider that crawls like an ant.
I'm also an arachnaphobr, but have accepted I will see spiders in real life and games. I absolutely humiliated myself in a full cafeteria during science fair because a small spider had landed on my shirt.
Ellen has that 3 pronged "this was my idea, and I hate this, but I'm hanging in there" laugh that gets me every time
agreed. It's amazing.
1 of the funniest "aracnaphobia modes" I've seen is the one in Satisfactory where they replace the spiders with kitten png's and add mewing sfx instead of the skittering and hissing, I actually laughed when I 1st saw it 😂
I was hoping they would have that one on here. I don't have arachnophobia, but they still make me physically jump when I'm not expecting them.
the glitching cat png's are just so much worse than the actual enemies, and I say that as someone who hates the spider-adjacent monstrosities.
@@ElLoboUK Wait, really? I usually turn it on because it makes them easier to spot in dark or foliage heavy environments, my only complaint is that the hitboxes don't line up perfectly
i was hoping someone would mention satisfactory, i never got affected by spiders in video games before but the ones in this game were scary to me (something about the animation and speed i think)
the arachnophobia mode makes it very funny lol hello cat pngs
The huge ones which follows you so... so... so freaking long. You running away spamming the living shite out of the slide+jump while hearing the awful SCITTERING behind your back. I love insects but those moments has me squeeling like a beeeech lmao 😂😂 + Also i always nope the F away from the caves.
Ellen: "Spiders don't really make a noise."
Luke: "Until they're in your mouth!"
😳😂😂
that one really got me, James too by the sound of it
My dad has aphantasia so he literally can't imagine images/textures/tastes in his head, one of his favourite things is to mention "wet wool in your mouth" and watch people grimace but he's utterly unaffected
I'm absolutely not telling him about _spiders_ in your mouth 😅😅
Fun fact: your tongue knows what an object feels like.
@@Imperial_Squid hahaha your dad is awesome 😂
Also I'd never heard of that affliction before. Kinda fascinating
Anyone who doesn't think they make noise has never lived in Australia or the southern US. You can hear the bigger huntsman skittering across your walls at night.
I forgot this was the torture Ellen month
Not ethical, but epical 👍
What do you mean? We would of had Fear Academy yesterday if Ellen was back home and settled 😅
Happy Halloween
the funny thing is that spiders have a really weird respiratory system that involves an organ on the bottom of their body opening and closing kinda like an accordion, called a book lung. In theory, if they were super large, they might huff and puff and hiss, but the sound wouldn't come from their mouth parts or face because their face has literally no connection to their respiratory system. There are actually some species that are big enough to hiss at you, its just most are too small to hear
An example of this is the Goliath Bird Eating Tarantula. But the hissing is made by rubbing it's front paws together and not air like us humans. But I agree with the huffing and puffing as it would possibly be loud if the spider was human sized.
That would be Disgusting 🕸🕷
I almost fainted reading this👍🏼
Also the mandibles are called "chelicerae" this is where they keep their fangs.
Brother, this is the most horrifying thing I've ever read
The thing that gets me about the Wolf Spiders in Grounded is that they're FAST. They aren't slowed down just because they're bigger than you, they actually move like spiders
They've gotta have her react to the newest spider boss, the intro for it's fight spooked me so much as a non-arachnophobe
infected wolf spiders made it even more painful
@@PuffDaFluff the infected Broodmother?
That's awesome, I love spiders, and I caught a beautiful Wolf Spider earlier this year...he is gorgeous and probably the biggest one of his breed that I've ever seen...nearly the size of my palm...thats including leg size
Bloodborne is worse, that abomination moves so fast... yuck.
Could you please do a "Cuddliest Animals in Games, Ranked by Ellen" list?
I would enjoy that!
One small problem - the video would be about 3 hours long.
@@dominichoughton8119 that's not a problem...that's a plus!!!
The "Stray" kitten would be on that list.
But then they'd show her spiders at the video's end to bring her down from the cuteness high.
Fun fact from an arachnophobic comic artist:
I once had to draw a series of storyboards for a Honey, I Shrunk the Kids-esque project in my sophomore year of school. The script, by my own idea (I'm a genius, obviously) contained a tightrope walk on a spiderweb.
WELL. My team handed ME the spider scene. I spent the entire night that I worked on those boards sitting as far up in my chair as I could, drawing a little, puking into my trashcan, and then drawing some more.
I also learned that day that I have a memorization technique in my art where I memorize the texture of whatever I'm trying to draw. It makes me really accurate without having to check my reference many times! It also made me burn myself in the shower later that night trying to un-imagine the texture of spider legs.
What a trooper, Ellen!
“It’s Tolkien’s fault, basically” is a generally true statement about almost all of fantasy and much of many other genres as well
If something's not Tolkien's fault, it's Robert E. Howard's fault.
I loved the line "a post-Shelob world"
Ellen's guttural goblin fear cackle is funny to me, but watching the love and care that went into making sure she's as comfortable as possible while being made uncomfortable was genuinely heartwarming. I love you guys; thank you for this, and please keep making more.
A certain spider-like monster that really freaks me out is Nerscylla from the old Monster Hunter games. Out of the various spider monster they've made, Nerscylla is definitely the most disgusting, fear-inducing, devious thing I've seen. Not only can she fling itself around using its webbing, it can also extend its jaw and has a really creepy and akward walking animation
Recently, a friend of mine with arachnophobia was watching me play MH Generations Ultimate, and the moment that thing appeared on screen she jumped away from her seat. Moreover, the moment Nerscylla unhinged its jaw and extended its giant spring mandibles I had to pause the game bc she literally ran away from the room. That thing is truly nightmare fuel in its purest form
Nerscy isn't even an "old" monster. She's a CLASSIC monster(and a massive pain in my ass as a hammer user). Also, she's only been around for 2 generations. She's NOT old. If you want examples of old monsters, I can give you 3.
Hypnockatrice is old. Queen Vespoid is old. King Shakalaka is old. Nerscylla is NOT old.
There's another spider monster that could also be suggested from the MH franchise, it's a new one introduced in gen 5, Rakna Kadaki from Rise Sunbreak.
Not mentioning the fact that SHE SKINS GYPCEROS AND WEARS THEIR SKIN
Have you played Rise by any chance? I have mild arachnophobia aswell and for some reason Rakna Kadaki doesn't trigger it at all. Personally I think it's the movment all the dashes and drags they do.
Nerscylla was one of the first spiders i managed to get over in video games because once i knew all the moves i was able to handle it alot easier. it helped alot with getting my arachnaphobia under control. I still have it bad but it doesnt stop me from playubg games. though i did have to put down hogwartslegacy a couple times
Welcome fellow arachnophobes to the “I wasn’t brave enough to watch the video so instead I’m scrolled down here while the audio plays” club. We have snacks, and also no spooders.
Hey gang, I've got some cookies for us! Oh and a couple of blankets
Except that one right behind you.
😮
😂
🕷
I just started the video and looked straight at the comments to avoid seeing the screen. Glad to find I'm not alone.
Just the audio it is, happy to join the safe space 😅
My wife really struggled with the spider part of It Takes Two. I tried to zoom in so she couldn't actually see it was a recognisable spider.
She screamed, cried, punched me and wouldn't play the game for a week. Apparently zooming in made it feel like it was on her face.
Lesson learned!
i hope you two didn’t have to go through a “it takes two” situation of your own
For me, it's mainly the movement that gets me in video games. Ellen's worst one was mine too, primarily the movement was just too accurate. That's why it's nowhere near as bad without the legs. All of us recognise that pattern of leg movement and it's a massive trigger. That's why most of us don't care about other insects, they just don't move the same, other insects are pussies.
Me and a buddy played through It Takes Two and Grounded together, and luckily he isn't the worst arachnaphobe but to this day the scream he let out and then locked himself in our base for two nights after our first wolf spider encounter is trapped in my head, I'm proud of him for toughing it out to play with me and honestly, by the end he was fighting them more than I was lol
Oh I didn't know that was in the game. I broke up with my gf before we got that far. Guess that's a good thing, she would have hated that
Nevermind the spiders, me and my GF are still traumatized to this day by the whole Cutie situation. That was one of the hardest things I've ever been through in a videogame, and I've been a gamer for 30+ years.
As an arachnophobe who's been pretty obsessed with Hollow Knight lately I just wanted to say!!! The Nosk doesn't even feel like a spooder, but it's the foreground/background silhouettes that crawl over your screen in Deepnest that made me drop my controller multiple times!! Screw those sprites they're not even enemies but they gave me nightmares 😭
I love the idea that as Ellen was reading out the note absolving Luke of all legal and moral ramifications, just out of shot Jane was holding a copy of Kingdoms of Amalur above a running blender.😂
too funny and I could see that. OK Outside Xtra we need to see that video of Jane holding Amalur for Ransom
That's not really Jane's style. She doesn't use fear to keep the others in line. She uses smarts to trick them into doing a thing.
@@tyrannicpuppy so why not have given the idea to luke who had one of the others do it
@@quincyking010 that's definitely plausible. I just meant she wouldn't threaten to blend Amalur. She wouldn't need to with her sneaky mind games...
3:27 Fun Fact!: Spiders aren't actually silent. The noises most species make are too high-pitched for the human ear to register, but larger species will audibly hiss when agitated.
That's horrifying, thanks! 😂
don't they make a chirping kind of sound when it's made audible through editting?
You mean like the Arachnophobia film that starred Scar Jo that had a giant spider hissing, I still remember that spider vs cat fight in the walls that left indentations of the giant spider and the poor kitty
@PrinceYamiUchihaCosplay 8 legged freaks and particularly THAT scene is a core memory
@@Saltmetall was it, dammit I got them mixed up, why did I think Arachnophobia was the film that had that then I just realised that guess it was 8 Legged Freaks that had Scar Jo and the cat vs giant spider Wall fight scene, you gotta admit that fight scene in the wall was pretty hilarious, I laughed a lot even though the film was just scary because of all those huge spiders
Something that could be fun is having Ellen react to "Lucas the Spider" because from what I've heard, it sounds like it helps people with arachnophobia at least a little bit.
That thing is just disgusting.
That thing has never helped me
@@harlgg Dave‘s Little Beasties is full of arachnophobes, come join us. He has mostly tarantulas, but also some true spiders, frogs, and centipedes. Super chill dude, highly recommended.
I really can’t stand spiders, not phobic but I can’t sleep if I know one is in the house somewhere… except for jumping spiders. I’m fine with those. Even if they jump onto me. They look too adorable to be scary.
@@ArDeeMeenever heard of that. I did come across something similar by the sounds of it in the oast though. RUclips channel called Exotic's Lair pretty sure it was called. Had some vids of feeding/watering his collection of spiders/snakes and scorpions. I don't really see how it would be anything but confrontational for someone with an actual arachnophobia though?
The speed at which Luke realises that it would be funny to scream at 5:20 is exactly why he's so witty with one liners in RPGs too - and ditto for the rest of the oxboxtra crew. Comedy geniuses.
The entirety of the horribleness of the spiders has been offset by Ellen admitting her crush on Cel Kestis, which is the purest most precious thing that's ever happened.
He is one lucky man! Got to play a Jedi, has met Mark Hamill and is crushed on by Ellen Rose!
But yes, agreed it was very wholesome
That spider feels particularly egregious because there's literally no reason to have giant spiders in a Star Wars game. Make up your own space monster, devs!
@@oranski3299 Haha just one of those nice little "ahhhh a true nerd like us" moments.
@@michaelpirrone Haha in fairness this is a sci-fantasy universe where every sapient race looks remarkably human :-P (and seriously SW... *sapient*... the word you want is *sapient*, not *sentient*... like literally every form of animal life is sentient... lol)
I think the level of fear I feel towards any spider is directly proportional to how *heavy* the spider is. Like sure, the ones that make the light pitter-y sounds when they walk aren’t my favorite, but the ones that _make an audible _*_thump_*_ sound with each eight steps they take_ are what REALLY make me want to eject myself from my own skin 💀 I also hate when a huge spider is in its web and they go the extra mile to add the sound of the web strands straining under the heavy weight of the spider 😭😭
(P.S: watching this video made me paranoid about whether any spiders/bugs are in my room or on me now lmao. The lights have officially been TURNED ON!!! 💀)
Its more terrifying when they are audibly large and visibly fast. Having a large fast spider that can hop is ☠️ and I love spiders.
@@Optional-Slag Oh definitely! I don’t play many games that include spiders of that magnitude, but so far Grounded and Hogwarts Legacy are both games that I feel fit those unfortunate spider characteristics 🥲
I wonder how Ellen would react to Balder's Gate 3's spiders, mainly the phase spiders. The game is a turn based overhead tactical game so they're not in-your-face. These spiders also teleport so when a batch of eggs hatch, they will teleport to your party and quickly surround them.
Burning hands really came in handy there.
@@DonLoco3 ...........the only GOOD phase spider is a dead one. fireball, maximized, empowered and heightened if possible. at danger close if need be
@@DonLoco3that and darkness. Forcing them to fight on my terms saved my bacon.
Until you cast Speak with Animals and have a lovely chat with the giant spiders in the Goblin Camp. They even talk like spiders.
If you actually want to know BG3 from an arachnophobe's perspective, I stopped all quests... to become a pest exterminator.
I went to the harper's outpost and set fire to the spider nest up there in the crag-completely unnecessary! You can get the treasure from there and never fight a spider! I burned the spider eggs, they hatched and became pet spiders/allies that were going to fight the spiders from the nest I burnt. I killed them before they even had a chance to help me.
I was a pest exterminator with extreme prejudice. I was more concerned by the infested monsters covered in baby spiders than the phase spiders themselves, but I used Astarion's burning hands before they even came close so it wasn't a problem.
I stealthed through the cave little by little, luring phase spiders a couple at a time until by the point I reached the matriarch I had silently destroyed half of her egg clutch (all the right-side ones of course) and initiated the fight in turn based mode by one-shot-killing a phase spider below.
So the boss fight was my level 3 party, one matriarch, only half the babies, and one other phase spider. Even when she laid more instantly hatching eggs, it was too late at that point and her fate was pretty much sealed.
I went through the whispering depths afterward to ensure total genocide by destroying all the egg sacs, even though they don't do anything and they're basically just stylized lanterns.
I saw evidence of spiders in the underdark (of course, lolth) but no actual spiders, yet I still dedicated time to burning every last egg. Just in case.
So your answer is pest control. An arachnophobe's response to phase spiders is that actually they're fine because they're bright blue and teleport around. The times I was jumpscared in that cave were when I thought I had cleared it out and suddenly skittering blue legs of the matriarch appeared in the upper right corner of my screen. Walking is scarier than teleporting every time.
We need one of those free form episodes where the members of OX discuss their video game character crushes.
Perfect Valentines fodder.
"my biggest videogame heartbreak is when my dragon age boyfriend broke up with me..."
-jane in the video game heartbreak video
So...four Lady D and one Cal Kestis?
@@Alsebra or just five lady D, it's possible to have more than one crush
@@Alsebra Nah. At least one of the entries will be the car from OutRun.
11:30 or so - I feel like Nosk is definitely a creepy/scary enemy, but is also definitively not a spider. It's likely not going to trigger the arachnophobia, just the regular creepy vibes detector
Deepnest as a whole is scarier than Nosk imo. The overlayed effect of spiders crossing the screen in deepnest, the skittering sound effects and the claustrophobic design made me so uncomfortable when I was first exploring without a map 😢
The bench trap is way worse because you can't move after you get tricked by the spiders in disguise.
I think the lead-up to that fight is scarier than the fight itself tbh. The notion of following a mysterious doppelganger down some narrow corridors filled with the dessicated corpses of various bugs, knowing that whatever lies ahead can't be anything good, the anticipation is much worse than the reveal. It might be the scariest part of the game for me, either that or the room with the corpse creepers when you try and save Zote.
As mentioned, there indeed is a difference between a fear and a phobia, because the key to a phobia is that it is either an irrational fear, or an irrational level of fear. A rational person can often identify when their fear is irrational, but that doesn't prevent the feeling of fear that the phobia is causing.
The country but just to add to the discussion, one of the descriptions I have seen is a hardwire from a subject to the fight or flight response of the brain that shortcuts everything else.😊
I describe it as the difference between the feeling you get in a haunted maze attraction, running from the chainsaw man vs. actually finding a man with a machete or chainsaw in your actual house.
Both are scary, but only one makes you feel like you are actually gonna die and that's the difference between people who find spiders scary or unpleasant vs arachnophobes like me. Spiders (and things that look too much like apiders) make me feel like I'm gonna die.
Yup which is how I figured out my fear of snakes is actually a phobia. 😅 rationally, I know I have no need to be THAT afraid of snakes, I understand they have a place in this world and a role to play, but I am absolutely TERRIFIED none the less. 😅
@@ChronicElliIt's weird as I'm not scared of pictures or videos of spiders (even though they are still creepy) but if there was a spider in my bed I'd jump up, scream like a little girl, grab my shoe and start slapping it around. This all came after I got bit by a Brown Recluse.
@@Gatorade69 ooo incident induced 😓 sorry about that pal. 😭
Luke's "just set me on fire" is one of the most relatable things I've heard haha
As someone who doesn't particularly love insects and experiences sensory issues, insects on my body is my own personal circle of hell.
I hate having a spider touch my skin as the feeling is awful, heck I don't like feeling them on my head, had a spider crawl on my hand twice and about 3 or so years ago I had a spider somehow appear on my head, I felt something weird so ran my hand on my head to then see a spider on my hand, flicked my hand to the right and it landed down the side of my bed until I got the vacuum and sucked it into it's grave.
But something I still remember to this day was when still living with family, I was in my bedroom which was next to the living room which my bedroom before it became one was a smoking room, so a few years ago I was sitting in my bedroom watching Freak Show which was the 4th season of AHS until I saw something at the corner of my left eye move down, so I got up off my bed to turn on the light and what do I happen to see covering a majority of my bedroom curtain which my bed was directly under it but a huge spider which you could fit in two hands close together, maybe more, so I left the room to only come back and found it vanished like a Ninja, turned out it decided to go under my bed covers and I was like "I'm not going to sleep in that bed as I didn't wanna wake up to it on me"
I do love insects (especially spiders) but yeah sensory issues come first, I love insects so long as they’re not on me unless I let them on me
@@eris9062I'm the same way. I _adore_ spiders, but I don't want them on my person. At all. Not even voluntarily. The little gentle, sweeping, tapping, caressing feelings as they move across my skin just causes the most unpleasant sensation imaginable to me. I don't really understand why. I find it sad, actually, especially when I find a jumping spider that I want to pick up and make friends with!
My phobia isn't as bad as some peoples (like Ellen), when I see them I sort of get anxious and not want to look. But if a spider gets on me I will scream and shut down. I will not move until it is gone except to try and throw it away from me
The hunt showdown spider was one of the only times I was genuinely scared in a game, I saw it and threw a lamp at it to set it on fire and hearing it scramble around the room while screaming was terrifying
"I thought I was safe in zombie games." Is exactly what a good zombie game is aiming for
Giant spoder from the first Resident Evil cries silently in the corner.
Fun spider fact: There are indeed spitting spiders, Scytodidae, and their spit can immobilize and poison prey.
😳
...and thats what the "fun" facts about spiders are like huh?
Well that's a strange use of the word "fun" that I was previously unaware of.
Can we turn down nature's difficulty level at all?
Came to say the same thing! 😆
Huge props to Ellen for being an absolute trooper and going through with these videos, despite how primal and overwhelming her phobia is. That said, in the event of a future video where she comes back for another round, I have a weird idea for another spider.
I am suggesting a re-visiting of the spiders from Minecraft, but with the Nyf's Spiders mod applied. It overhauls the functionality of spiders in a way that makes them much more difficult, and much more frightening, by actually letting them climb walls and ceilings, orienting themselves properly to do so, and by extension upgrading their pathfinding to make proper use of this new mobility.
I feel like this would be an especially interesting addition, because it's an unofficial mod, and it's making one of the less scary spiders already covered more scary. Of course, only do this if Ellen is willing to do one more go in the future.
One of the scary/weird things about the scorpion things in Metro is that it's heavily suggested that they aren't a result of radiation...they were always down in the dark.
Thats horrifying actually.
Oh... This. I don't like this...
The spider section in 2033 remake took me longer than the entirety of Frontline, in Exodus the Satellite bunker was worse for me than the fucking Library
I am a Big Fan of spiders, and sometimes in these videos ellen says something to herself that isn't true about spiders, and because I think they're neat, I want to go "oh, no, there's is a spider that ..." and then i realize that ellen probably doesn't want to know those things. It is almost certainly more of a comfort to NOT know those things. 😂
As someone who tried to cure her arachnophobia when she was younger by watching nature shows about them (spoilers, it didn't work lol), I seriously appreciate your realisation haha...! - E
People with Arachnophobia will agree that spiders are absolutely terrifying and should just burn or better still Australians will agree that spiders should just die, I mean have you seen how huge they get down there, I won't be going there anytime soon.
I can't even look at a nature book or photos on the Internet of spiders without either yeeting the book across the room or getting extremely sick to my stomach looking at images of spiders on the Internet, I'm surprised how many colours a spider can get as I've seen a cobalt blue tarantula on Google images and even though I love the colour, the spider is still creepy
Same, I’m literally an entomologist, and I’ve had pet spiders that I’ve loved very much. I genuinely admire Ellen’s bravery so so much and will offer up other Meaningless Animal Facts that my head are chock full of instead lol
She thought the black spiders in Bloodborne were a boss fight, for example.
It reads to me that simply knowing they exist is the only information she needs and anything beyond is unnecessary exposure.
I mean.. yeah, if it invokes that level of fear in reality when the cause itself is fake/digital then I'm all in favour of noping the hell out ahead of time, don't willingly put yourself in that position if it's not the fun kind of being scared. :D
I also genuinely appreciate the warning in Grounded as we have friends who are also hugely scared of spiders and simply knowing they were there was enough until we found the "angry floating blob" option. :)
I love that more games are employing arachnophobia safe modes these days, but what they have taught me is that, even if you turn a spider into a beachball with roller-skate legs, if you still make it move like a spider, make it run up on the player and skitter and hiss in the typical video game spider fashion, and cover the environment in webs, it is still terrifying. All of the "SPIDER!!!" cues that paralyze your animal brain with fear are still there.
"bolted out of the room in sheer panic out 10" was something unexpected even from Ellen, specially when she has her own series about beating these types of videogames. Brave girl, Ellen
yea, that's the "irrational" part of the phobia, it doesn't matter how brave you are or how much you know that it can't get you it is still "Fight, Fright or Flight" only. I know she knows it will be temporary and very entertaining but still very brave Ellen for this, once let alone three times. We Want More, We Want Four!! though she can have a year to relax we can wait 😄
Until the lab coat came out I wasn't convinced this is actually for science, but the safety goggles and rubber gloves really sealed it 😂
P.S.: Ellen you're a legend! 🤘
What the heck have Dicebreaker been up to...
Those are actually leather gloves, not rubber. I've those exact ones on subscription with Amazon for my work.
long sleeved lab coat even, you know he's dealing with danger.
@@zanite8650 If I remember rightly, those are from Dicebreaker testing the durability of a card protector case by shooting it with a shotgun and setting it on fire. Just one of the many times they've somehow managed not to die from toxic fume inhalation.
Sealed it, unlike Luke's respirator.
Bad PPE discipline kills!
I still remember walking into a cave in Skyrim, looking up and a spider descending from the ceiling and you would’ve thought it was in the room with me with how I reacted.
Same. Fully dropped the controller and ran out the room screaming when it did that. My housemate at the time thought the house was on fire 😂
Believe me, it's even worse when you enter that cave and the spider's descending animation cancels and just falls wide open straight onto your face.
Luke's comedic timing on putting those glasses away from Ellen is through the roof. 😂
6:39 I have a fear of bees and wasps and I can totally relate, it's not the visual but the sound. It takes a split second to distinguish between the buzz of a bee and a beetle, or a wasp and a fly, and every unknown buzz is 10000% a bee.
I don't have a fear of bees, wasps and flies but I don't like the buzzing and due to having ADHD and having a noise sensitivity especially to loud noises, I flinch to the sound of them buzzing, though a few months ago I went to a picnic meet and I ended up getting tormented by a wasp and I couldn't eat without it coming to me which my adrenaline went crazy until friends said to try stay calm because my adrenaline was giving off a scent for that wasp so maybe I have a little fear of buzzing insects but I wouldn't call it a phobia, I just hate the buzzing sound when near my ear
Ohhh yeah. I had a wasp nest dropped on me as a kid (it was an accident I’m pretty sure) so the sound just drives me insane, even after like a decade
4:40 Scytodidae catch their prey by spitting a fluid that congeals on contact into a venomous and sticky mass. The fluid contains both venom and spider silk in liquid form, though it is produced in venom glands in the chelicerae. The venom-laced silk both immobilizes and envenoms prey such as silverfish. In high-speed footage the spiders can be observed swaying from side to side as they "spit", catching the prey in a criss-crossed "Z" pattern; it is criss-crossed because each of the chelicerae emits half of the pattern. The spider usually strikes from a distance of 10 to 20 millimetres (0.39 to 0.79 in) and the entire attack sequence only lasts 1/700th of a second.[5] After making the capture, the spider typically bites the prey with venomous effect, and wraps it in the normal spider fashion with silk from the spinnerets.[6]
Ellen is so brave
And adorable 😊
Ellen must be protected 🎉😂😂😂
As is often said, courage isn't the absence of fear. It's feeling fear but not letting it stop you. Ellen certainly meets that definition.
The bravest!
Agreed, but it also seems she's having fun at the same time (between the spiders, at least).
I actually want to thank you because the wolf spider happened to be common where I grew up (I didn't know but I recognized the pattern on it). This matters to me in particular because I was bitten by a spider as a 3-4 year old and was paralyzed for a while because of it. It helps me find out what exactly bit me
Omg
Sorry to hear that happened to you @psychlycan, I would hope that I don't get bitten by any kind of spider because I've seen unpleasant images of certain types of spider bites and I rather avoid and deep gaping wounds on my body from a spider bite
The scariest real life spider is of course the Coconut Crab.
Now, i understand that crabs are traditionally not considered to be spiders.
Bear in mind, this thing can climb trees like a spider.
It's also got strong claws, is surprisingly fast, eats meat, travels in swarms, and are large. The scary part about that last one? To be large in nature means you are successful enough to eat well.
They are literally nightmare fuel.
Also possibly the cause of death of Amelia Airheart.
Those things are massive
Lukes face when ellen rates the early ones so highly knowing whats coming is hilarious to me
I haven't even got arachnophobia and that Bloodborne spider made me shudder.
Ellen is an absolute trooper for putting herself through this for a third time. Props to Luke as well for being very supportive, knowing when to stop showing the spiders and for the after care kittens.
We can all do with aftercare kittens
Arachnids and insects as a whole are just unsettling. Their shape and their behavior is completely contrary to everything else on this earth. 4 limbs and 2 eyes is the standard for every other species on this planet, including most fish, with 2 flippers and a tail with 2 fins. Even those freaky deep sea fish still hold to that number. Bugs violate all of those rules. 6 legs at minimum, some having odd numbers of legs, multiple eyes, everything is just wrong. Not to mention that they act weird. Every other animal on earth stays away from humans unless we specifically train it to like us, because we're a threat. Bugs, on the other hand, will happily go anywhere, even into your fucking mouth, for no reason whatsoever. They have no survival instinct
@@filmandfirearms thank god I don't sleep with my mouth open
having just binge watched all of the ranking spiders videos, it really is fascinating diving into what exactly about the various spiders does or doesn't set off the phobia. while not arachnophobic, I do have an extreme phobia of wasps (spheksophobia or something like that iirc), and a lot of the points brought up really helped me to better understand and evaluate my own phobia and why some things trigger it and others don't. power of association and realism definitely being some of the best shown points throughout. thank you so much for making these videos and facing your fears so that others can learn and understand what goes through the mind of someone experiencing phobia.
Honestly, that arachnophobia option in grounded is genuinely lovely!
Also in Satisfactory, it replaces the spiders with pictures of cats
@@VernulaUtUmbra I hated that mode in Satisfactory, unless they changed it but when i first tried it they were all glitchy and moved way too fast and made me super uncomfortable
activate bean mode
Once again I'm reminded how grateful I am that snakes are so difficult for video games to animate realistically. Big props to Ellen for her bravery in making these videos, and big props to Luke too, for demonstrating why she trusts him, and for really working to understand the phobia too.
Surprised that they never mentioned the Ducal Spiders from Dark Souls 2. They're one of the reasons why it took me so long to get through Brightstone Cove.
Yeah the Dukes Dear Freja area is so unpleasant. All the town inhabitants fell victim to Freja and her offspring. Yuck.
Mate I don’t have Arachnophobia but that area freaked me the hell out and has, ever since had me warning anyone I know with arachnophobia trying DS2 for the first time about Brightstone Cove Tseldora
Yessss, the ‘arachnophobe ranks game spiders’ videos are some of my favourite Oxtra content. I’m so chuffed to see the format return!
That bit about the phobia brain being separate from the rational brain is a really huge thing to mention so thank you for that! I have stepnophobia (fear of ladders) and its very hard to explain to people. Ladders or step-ladders set off the strange, irrational, primal fear. People try to get me to justify it but its irrational! I appreciate you taking phobias seriously! 💚💚
I have no idea what a phobia of drains is called, but I have that. I'm fine with showers, but anything that holds water and has a drain is a big nope. Swimming pools set it off big time; even the filter flap things along the sides of a pool set it off. The drain, grate thing that's always in the deep end is a major nope. It's why I love the ocean and like lakes all right, but I hate swimming pools. Bathtubs honestly set it off a bit and I'm glad I take showers instead. Sinks are okay because I'm not actually immersed in the water. So yeah, I get it with phobias being difficult to explain to people. Especially ones like ours.
Hey just wondering, does the ladder have to be in use to set off your phobia or is it just the sight of one that does it?
Follow up question if it's the second scenario, if the ladder is laying flat on the ground or strapped sideways on a work truck will it trigger the phobia or does the ladder need to be standing up straight and leaning against something like it's about to be used?
@@DesidiosumCorporosumHominis Heya! There's kinda levels to it. If I see one that's in storage or something along those lines, I start to develop this weird scene of dread/paranoia. I'll be on edge about it but ultimately I'll be ok. If it's set up, either free standing ones or leaning ones, that same dread comes as well as becoming physically stressed. The closer I get, the worse it gets. I'll start shaking and sweating. If it's in use, I often need to leave entirely because I start to panic and feel nauseous in addition to all the other stuff. The one time I ever used a ladder, I had a full blown panic attack that lasted about 20 minutes.
So to actually answer your question, yes. Just the sight of one can set me off.
I have a phobia of an on oven (especially if nothing is being cooked/baked) and people always try to explain it away and I have to say “It’s called irrational for a reason!”
@@SolaScientia I just looked it up. Phobia of drains is called "viemaphobia". I didn't know that either.
Here is a slightly strange thing that genuinely helped me get rid of my arachnophobia almost completely: reading the book Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. It largely revolves around uplifted jumping spiders, and the kind of society and culture they’d develop. Spending time reading a book about spiders (who are friendly and generally just little dudes living their lives) ended up removing the association between spiders and something scary, replacing it with the spiders from the book instead. So now when I see spiders, I might still feel a bit scared, but it’s quickly overtaken by just thinking “ah yes, one of Portia’s friends, I see” (Portia is a spider from the book).
Luke is so good and pure for not putting a horrible spider jump scare after the 3rd or 4th kitten picture 😅
I was expecting it too especially when they started showing us the images on the screen...but ellen had already gone through enough it would've been too mean :P
that wouldn't be aftercare then, would it? And since they have a working relationship, its probably for the best that he isn't a jerk...
Yeah, I would've been so tempted to do that...
Damn your standards are low. He would have been evil if he did. Common decency should be regarded as the norm, not something pure.
and you just articulated not only why I should never be in a relationship with an arachnophobe, but in general why it's kinda just best I stay home and play tug of war with my dog.
The worst part of the Bloodborne spiders is when you're in the Chalice Dungeons and they just throw an infinite amount of them that home in on you from wherever they spawn
Rom, The Vacuous Spider's fight as well, is very distressing for arachnophobics
Rom is manageable because they have weird rocks for heads. The area before Mergo's Wet Nurse sucks ass tho@@leoleo1035
Rom isn't so bad, but I agree about the Challice Dungeons those Nightmare Apostles are fast and nasty. At least with the Mergo Tower area you know they're there but a jumpscare from a Challice Dungeon will make you crap yourself. Just no.
@@leoleo1035Rom's fight wasn't bad at all for me. Rom herself isn't even a Spider (she's a fluffy potato with like 30 legs) and her minions barely resemble Spiders too. The way they move doesn't bother me at all.
On the topic of arachnophobia modes, i think more games should take the Lethal Company route and just replace them with a png of text that says "SPIDER" because i think that is peak comedy
Ellen might legit be the bravest person on the face of the planet with how often she powers through all these things that terrify her, massive props to you Ellen o7
I'm surprised Satisfactory's Stinger wasn't reviewed yet, devs actually had to add an arachnophobia mode to replace the stinger model with aggressive kittens
I was searching for this, those f'ers need to get lost, can't wait for update 8 to go public so I can get rid of them 🤣
I was curious about the arachnophobia mode and I feel like it's worse for some reason, I don't have arachnophobia but those scuttling kittens freak me out way more than the originals do
@@Obvious72 They’re just spiders in disguise. 😭
@@Obvious72 Even in passive mode when I last played, horrible... Due to association even just hearing the meowing freaks me out still. Glad that whenever I get time to play again update 8 will allow to get rid of them completly
Ellen going "Oh the noises are not pleasant" during the hollow knight one makes me laugh because my pet tarantulas sound exactly like that when they run. And while I'm not necessarily scared of them, I am nervous about how fast they run (mostly because I'd rather not have one escape. they run so fast)
Glad to see Luke utilising proper laboratory PPE this time around, at least for some of the time. It's important to take lab safety seriously
It's like the Kalashnikov gun breaking videos. When they started, he was just wearing a standard issue 6B43 ballistic vest. Now, he makes Tachanka look naked by comparison
Bahaha. That was so good. Well done, Ellen!
Also the “aftercare” portion gave me such Stray play through vibes.
4:40. Correction, MOST spiders don't spit. There are some species that do.
Really didn't expect the nightmare apostle to break the scale. Kudos to Ellen for bearing it. Also I kinda expected Spiderman to be included as gag
Should've included Spiders-Man, but I don't think they've ever appeared in a video game
I love that you all truly care about Ellen's fear and do your best to have her feel safe while doing these videos for us. I also enjoy the cute animal photos at the end. Always smiling at them and Ellen's reactions to them
As someone with acrophobia (fear of heights), it is a totally irrational fear, and we know it. I had a friend try to comfort me when we were going on a crazy high rollercoaster by talking about how safe it is; I knew I wasn't going to fall out and die, phobias just provoke that kind of visceral reaction regardless. Props to Ellen for braving this! It isn't easy!
As a video game arachnophobe myself, I find Ellen’s reactions extremely entertaining and relatable. I’m super glad you finally covered both the Fallen Order and non-boss Bloodborne spiders (I’m sure I recommended them at some point too)! The Fallen Order ones I got used to, but I really hated the Bloodborne ones, so much so that I have always just sprinted through that room trying my best not to look at anything. In any case, I wanted to pull up my old comment about the Conan Exiles spiders for the next round!
“I realize this was months ago and you'll probably never see this, but regardless! Would love to see Ellen's reaction to the spiders in Conan Exiles (both the small ones and giant ones). At first the little ones made me really uncomfortable (especially the way they curl up and go all limp when you kill them). But omg the giant ones. I noped right back to where I came from the first time I saw one in the distance. Another time when playing co-op, I accidentally got my friend to shoot an arrow at one in the distance - after a few seconds it started approaching but I thought "we're on a cliff, we should be fine", but I turned the camera and saw it walking up an incline to the side of the cliff (thankfully I did not get the full image of it). Without thinking I jumped off the cliff and ran away. My friend (who had not seen what I had seen) was understandably confused until he turned around and I heard him scream in terror. It's just the way they move, and this one was hairy, and so high definition, and had so much health, just urgghh.”
Thanks again for all the screams! Erm, I mean streams 🙂
I really like spiders and I love snakes, but I hurried my way through the Forbidden Woods and the Nightmare of Mensis anyway. I'd have been slightly better with both areas if they just hadn't put so many of the damn things in the areas and made them super strong. I end up looking up item locations and just running around the Forbidden Woods only fighting when I had no other choice. For that room in the Nightmare of Mensis I took the roundabout way to drop down, grabbed the items and got the hell out of there. At least the Nightmare Apostle can't fit through the doors.
It's the return of the labcoat! Love it when it makes an appearance. Kudos to Ellen for being so brave and doing this for a third time. Kudos to Luke for being a good friend (and scientist) by looking out for Ellen throughout and after the experiment
If by some chance there's a part three to this, I'd like to see how she ranks the spiders in Rain World. I don't consider myself to be an arachnophobe and I don't tend to scare easily in games, but those fuckers freaked me out to no end when I encountered them. There are four different spider enemies in the game (including DLC), and all of them are pretty damn terrifying in their own way. It's made even worse by the fact that A) they're usually found in the darkest regions and are darkly colored, making them even harder to see compared to most other creatures, and B) the game does a pretty good job of hammering in the fact that while you might not be defenseless, you are still VERY weak and VERY much at the bottom of the food chain in this massive ecosystem.
was looking through the comments for a mention of rain world - THIS, they're all pretty bad but coalescipedes are just *shudders*
Huge kudos again to Ellen! Also very surprised The Spider from Hunt wasn't more triggering, but the chat afterwards really helped bring things into perspective
As soon as I saw the title of this video, I instantly thought of Bloodbourne and thought Ellen would have a huge time with the Nightmare Apostle. I literally fell out of my chair laughing when she fled the room! I love that you're tackling your phobia, Ellen! Great vid, guys!
I would have liked to see a more detailed breakdown of the Grounded arachnophobia settings, and whether each step actually addresses the right features to make it less spidery before committing to full blob
I often want to give Ellen a hug on fearacademie and such, but today I geniunely felt the instinct to comfort her when she ran away
I can't believe you haven't done the actual worst spiders in video games, the ones from Dragon Age. Especially the monstrous spiders in Dragon Age 2 that drop from the ceiling. It's one of my favorite games, and I spend a good forty percent of it with my head turned away from the screen, blindly fighting spiders.
Thank every god ever worshipped for the DA companion AI! Every time I was in a spider cave in DA:I, I was just like, “Okay, Bull! You got this! You go trigger their aggro, I’ll be… over here…”)
The ones in DA: I were one of the first that came to mind, along with the ones in Tseldora in Dark Souls II. Can't stand either of them.
Honestly the most horrifying spider I have ever seen are the skull spiders from Ocarina of Time. Their spasms are just augh!!!
Agreed, Ellen finds the Skulltullas cute. But when I was 6, area at the bottom of the well was truly terrifying. Spider jumpscares and a room full of torture devices. Yay 😮💨
As a father of a daughter with phobias, I instinctively wanted to give Ellen a safe place to hide as soon as she yeeted herself away from the Bloodborne spider. Way to hang in there gurl and thank you Luke et al for your care in approaching this presentation. Your desire to preserve Ellen's dignity was clear to see and has encouraged me to support your Patreon since you're obviously good people!
The bravest member of the outside xtra team is going into it once again. We appreciate your sacrifice, Ellen! ❤❤❤
With all the love you've been giving FromSoft's spiders I'm really surprised I didn't see anything about Duke's Dear Freja in this one. Currently playing through Dark Souls 2 and the most difficulty I've had progressing so far is getting to the first room in Brightstone Cave Tseldora and realizing that the entire next area would be filled with spiders crawling out of dark places. I'd feel so validated seeing Ellen's reaction to all the bullshit spider rooms in that area, maybe even that strange NG+ mini-encounter with Freja before getting to her boss room
As someone that's recently become hyperfixated on arachnids, it's very interesting seeing someone on the opposite end of the spectrum reacting to them
Respect this so much, as someone who has a couple of phobias (including arachnophobia and especially one of centipedes (terrible creatures its like a spider but with even more legs and nastier movement)) it's always so strangely comforting to know there's others like me experiencing this level of fear at what you KNOW most people dont reeact to at all - just to know I'm not just being dramatic, it is actually that bad and thats okay.
Also added to, massive props also to Luke for how respectful he is of the phobia - that's genuinely a rare thing and it really adds a lot.
Thank you both for doing this. Somehow the combination of Ellen facing our mutual fear and Luke's genuine empathy and willingness to stop when it gets too much is a huge help for me in watching these clips as well. The spiders from Satisfactory genuinely caused me to have a panic attack the first time I encountered them while jetpacking over the pink swamp. I'd been playing in peaceful mode so I'm just be-bopping around my little factory game when all of a sudden I'm surrounded by spindly-legged creeping horrors that are *leaping* into the sky to bite me. Even the cat gifs didn't help. Thankfully, they've added true-arachnophobia mode so we can enjoy exploiting the environment in peace. XD
I know he is generally a behind the scenes man, but Jon has made enough of an on screen presence that, particularly for videos like this, I would love a bonus video or short of his reactions to filming stuff like this. For example, I would love to see what must have been Jon silently bursting with laughter when Ellen just ran off camera after the Bloodbourne spider
Thank you Ellen, for being unbelievably brave.
P.S. recently got my hands of kingdoms of amalur: rereckoning, and am enjoying it even more than i did the original release i believe.
I was reminded of a spider moment that spooked me a number of years back in, of all things, the MMO World of Warcraft. First expansion, in the Terrokar zone, is a forest of spiders. Not unusual for that game, there are more than a few of those…except this one had, in a spot where you wouldn’t immediately see it from the ground, a red spider the size of a house. Doing quests to kill the other spiders, ride up a hill, and just see these red legs sticking out from around a bend in the path was a total “oh hell no” and go the opposite direction moment.
Only time a creature that game ever spooked me too.
very highly doubt ellen will want to do one of these videos again (and she's incredibly brave as always if she does), but i'd be fascinated to see her take on the phase spiders from baldur's gate 3. bright unrealistic colours, but very realistic moving and can teleport practically on top of you. a close friend of mine is an arachnophobe and reloaded his save the moment he got into combat with them and saw how they moved
I can deal with the phase spiders (mostly due to the colors) it is the realistic ones, like the ones in the Goblin camp that chills my veins. Though funnily as soon as I worked up the courage to talk to them (using Speak with Animals) it got way better for me. Maybe putting a voice and personality to them just skewed them into the unrealistic zone.
i usually would never watch something with this many spiders as a fellow arachnophobe but ellen was being brave for us so solidarity. i did cry several times.
I didn't cry myself, but I absolutely couldn't look at the screen for as long as she did on any of these except for nosk. We did our best in solidarity.
I'd say we both deserve hugs, but I personally won't be able to stand being touched for the 12-24hrs so...❤
@@danicakelly2242 absolutely fair.
The Bunker Spiders from Lethal Company gave me a scare and I'm a fan of spiders.
I'd reckon those would be worth checking out.
Usually I associate those skittering noises more with cockroaches and centipedes than with spiders, which do personally bother me more than spiders.
I can totally relate, I have this uncontrollable fear of fish in the water, can’t play any swimming levels, especially with fish or sharks. I remember I had to invite my friend over to finish water level in American mc’gee alice. I m such a fan of the game, but could never play that part.
I love the after care by Luke! What a great friend! Fellow sufferer of Arachnophobia here, thank you for being so brave Ellen!
Out of all the spider videos this is the first time I've seen her skidaddle off screen, lol. If she decides to do another round of this, i suggest the spider queen from Okami
I thought it was the only time, but I wasn't completely sure. I'm not too surprised that it was the Nightmare Apostle that caused that reaction. I actually really like spiders, but even I had an "eff this noise" response. Not as scary as the Upper Cathedral Ward for me, but still a whole big room of nope. The weird spider-ish things in Dark Souls 3 freaked me out worse, but I think there are only 2 or 3 in the entire game.
@@SolaScientia I really don't mind spiders in real life but my "nope" moment was in Skyrim with the frostbite spiders, especially the giant one
@@kimberlyharris980 I've never gotten far enough in Skyrim to really encounter any spiders (I got bored with it, lol). I'll have to look it up. I know Ellen's mentioned that she also can't really play Skyrim because of the spiders. At least, nothing beyond what they do with Kippers and the challenges and such.
Eh, I doubt it’d get a big reaction. It never really felt like a spider since it had a face, human hands, and a flower bulb instead of a back segment. Something like Last Year: After Dark or Freja from Dark Souls would probably be worse
@@Urahara451 I don't think the spider ladies from Dark Souls were much of a problem for Ellen. I know she summoned for the boss fight, but I don't think she was particularly freaked out about it. I wonder how the Armored Spider (I think that's the right name) from Demon's Souls would be though (both the original and the remake to compare the 2).
it´s a nice idea but still terrifiing :(
it would be a "nice" idea to test other phobias like Thalassophobia too (absolutely disgusting because i have it)
there are good sea areas like Animal Crossing, Pokemon, Shadow of the Colossus, World of Warships, and more.
A bit scarier are Skyrim, Horizon Forbidden West, Conan Exiles and Assassins Creed Valhalla (if you know what i mean), where you don´t have this fear.
But there are very good examples too, where you are in fear over the whole time (SOMA, Far Cry 3, Bioshock, Subnautica, Raft, ABZU, Stranded Deep, Assassin´s Creed Origins and Odyssey (i think more in the beginning and it slows down over time when you grow stronger (or when you have Poseidon´s Fork and play Beyblade around sharks))
A very interesting game for me was Maneater!
My first thought was that i would hate this game (not because it is bad more that i want to play but cant it (like Ellen said about Metro) but i really liked it. It was funny and has many Eastereggs.
I think the major point was that i am not a weak human inside of the whole water area full of deadly creatures. I was the deadly creature myself.
The same goes about the Genshin Impact Water Country Fontaine. At first i thought that i wouldnt like it. Okay Genshin Impact has a wonderful music and art style but since i knew that we can dive my fear was awake... Fontaine is eventually one of my favourite areas^^'
for my point is that i hate seas and water areas (in games, series, movies, real life and even to hear about it) because i dont know whats inside and around me, all of it inside is better than me, i don´t have real control over myself and the area around me and the further you go down it will go darker and darker and the creatures even more horrible.
Thalassophobia is absolutely cruel but you can try to avoid water areas^^ (and then you see and hear, that people jump and dive in seas or the ocean or plains and ships crush into the ocean :( :( :( )
I know that there are a lot more examples than mine but these are some
of my experiences with this phobias in games (and yes i played through a
lot of them and some are platinum).
I would love to hear from other persons with this/my Phobia how they think about my text and examples and how they feel about them.
They might could get Johnny in for that, they have thalassophobia as well if I recall correctly.
I think that would be really interesting in the same uncomfortable way as these videos. I'm terrified of spiders but I have that morbid curiosity that makes me watch these. My thalassaphobia is pretty moderate, comparatively, but to everyone around me it seems ridiculous and illogical because I live really close to the ocean and have been surrounded by water my whole life. 😅
I've got "mild aquaphobia", which means I'm only "uncomfortable" around water, including showers/rain, but I also had no problem playing Maneater.
They did something magical with that game, it seems.
Did try Subnautica in the past, because PS+ bonus game, and... the shallows you start in is bad enough for me to know that I'll never finish it.
Am OK with Bioshock though, but I assume that there not being any water _immediately_ around you during playing made it not trigger me I guess.
Ark Survival Evolved has the scariest ocean ever
Oh, I have Thalassophobia! The worst one for me was the brief underwater section in the Mass Effect 3 Leviathan DLC. Made me actually want to throw up, good lord
I forgot to leave a comment when I first watched to say that while I don't have arachnophobia, I'm happy to see games like Grounded have modes to change the spiders in some way. Another that has done it for spiders as well as snakes is Forewarned. Good to see devs do this for players or potential players.
Ellen, you're a trooper. I'm gonna rewatch the previous one in your honor.
Spiders do need eyes. Only some build webs, quite a few are active hunters. There’s a really cool one called a bolos spider that catches prey with a long thread of silk with a sticky blob at the end that it whirls around with its front legs. It’s capable of amazing accuracy. Don’t google pics of them if you have arachnophobia, because they’re rather awful looking. Not like the happy face spiders of Hawaii, which reward checking out with a big friendly grin.
Crossing off Hawaii from list of places I will visit, not wanting to meet that freak
As someone who doesn't have arachnophobia, and loves bugs (with the term "bugs" being used loosely here), I think someone NEEDS to put giant bolas spiders in a game.
@@Umlee-Kerymansrivarrwael giant Bolas spiders?
Don’t stress Prince Yami, they live quite high on the big shield volcanos, and are so tiny most people don’t even notice them.
@barbararowley6077 that doesn't ease the feeling of me wanting to visit Hawaii because I might start feeling like something is crawling on me
These videos are always so interesting to me to watch. I suffer from severe arachnophobia when it comes to actual spiders in real life, but when it comes to video games, movies, etc, I'm not bothered by them in the slightest. In fact, I think it's partly because I have such a fear of them in real life yet don't with fictional ones, that in games I often go out of my way to have them as pets or summons when games allow it.
I think in my case it's less necessarily a fear of spiders themselves, so much as a fear of the unknown, and more importantly not knowing what they're going to do or how they're going to react to me being nearby. I have the same fear to a lesser degree with most insects, but it's probably amplified a bit with spiders due to how dangerous their bites can be, even knowing that most household spiders aren't actually a threat. Whenever I see one, even if I am fairly certain it's not dangerous, the fear part of my brain is constantly screaming at me that I don't know that for sure, and that I have no idea if it's going to randomly come towards me and bite me.
I keep recommending Dave‘s Little Beasties to other arachnophobes. He’s such a chill guy, perfect for learning about spiders and tarantulas. Never handles them, always keeps a respectful distance. Unless he’s pulling an egg sac, but that’s more of a special occasion. ^^
It’s gotten to a point where every time I play a game that has very detailed spiders I think “damn, Ellen will hate this”
The Earth Defense Force series has a couple of types of spiders (all much larger than the player)
One in particular has a REALLY terrifying design (as in it's just a real spider). But it's offset because they don't do the skittering motions, and you're usually equipped with rocket launchers and missiles to deal with them
EDF spiders, aka "thank god for nukes"
If I knew you were doing this again I would've suggested the cave spider enemies in satisfactory. Luckily for arachnophobes, satisfactory has an arachnophobia mode where it puts cat pictures over the enemies. Another funny arachnophobia mode is in rhythm doctor where a spider shows up in 1 tutorial and you can have it be covered up by a hand that comes from off screen
Grounded's wolf spider is surprisingly stealthy too....and it is beyond terrifying when it's your first night and you turn around and see *that*. As a bonus (don't do this to yourself Ellen!) the infected wolf spider genuinely made me pause the game and just....nope out for a while.
The environment for the black widow spider gets me just as much
I've had spiders in my flat so big that I've heard them moving around.
That’s how you legally get away with arson
I simultaneously want to like and unlike this comment so hard.
I had a huge one cover the middle of my bedroom curtain when I was still living with family, I didn't even have the bedroom light on, just the light of my TV and I saw something move down my curtain, turned on the light to see that huge spider I just mentioned, I left the room, came back to see it have disappeared until my mum tried looking and it ran under my duvet and I'm like, "I'm sleeping in the living room as was not sharing my bed with that monster" didn't wanna wake up to see it on me
:(
Spiders do actually hiss, often as part of a warning, that isn't just made up by video games, though it's often not able to be heard by people since spiders are very small and not usually near peoples ears. There are some great videos on youtube of people capturing their tarantulas hissing at intruding microphones though.
The number and variety of nonverbal noises/actions Ellen makes in this is amazing. It would make a *great* montage.