How I Learned to Love Elden Ring
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- Опубликовано: 15 окт 2024
- I've got kind of a weird relationship with Elden Ring; you guys mind if I talk about it for a minute or two?
After 150 hours of Elden Ring, I was sad that I just couldn't see what everyone else saw in this game. So I started the process of making a video to discuss that, only for parts of Elden Ring to begin to click as I played the game past the 150 hour mark. So I made the call to do one final playthrough, and make a video on whatever I felt on the other end of that playthrough.
This video ended up being one part analysis of how I think Elden Ring works, and one part narration of my journey through experiencing how Elden Ring works.
Help support the channel! - / thanebishop
Portions of the background audio generously provided by lithograph - / @lithograph_
I feel like by elden ring, people are accustomed to fromsoft enough that we forget that in these games the defining ability of the character is: they are immortal. Being immortal is the super power, like eating dragon souls in skyrim or being fast in sonic the hedgehog. Its easy to forget because we are also sort of immortal in most games cause...saves. But if you approach a fromsoft game with the understanding that your main ability is Not Staying Dead, the "punishment" becomes more like the steps to feeling out a puzzle and much more palatable.
True, people tend to disconnect from their mortality in most games and therefore their immortality in others. A sound point.
Statues of marika, close Grace or just using cheat engine to warp to fog gate (fuck renalla).
The real super power is making sure your load times are short
@@poutineausyropderable7108 bro what? Tenalla's boss runback is very short
its like one of those anime where the mc is stuck in a deathloop so he keeps going thru iterations until he gets every movement perfect and it appears to others like he’s just built different when hes actually getting iced thousands of times a day
Re: the Rennala fight, one thing to consider about the difference between phase 1 and 2 is that lorewise you're literally fighting two different people. Phase 1 is actual Rennala, but phase 2 is a manifestation conjured by Ranni to protect her mother
I've never heard this theory before?
@@robertpayne6781 ranni speaks in the cutscene after you finish phase 1 that explains this
@@robertpayne6781 "Upon my name as Ranni the Witch, Mother's rich slumber shall not be disturbed by thee. Foul trespasser, send word far and wide. Of the last Queen of Caria, Rennala of the Full Moon. And the majesty of the night she conjureth."
it's so weird how everyone is so chill after all that, like everyone just silently understood it was all a big misunderstanding and just let it slide this time.
did not know that.....but if you think about it, makes sense....Jesus...I love this!!!!!
in Berserk, Guts spends a lot of time doing everything he can do to take on all challenges on his own. He becomes inhumanly strong and able to do impossible feats. But time and time again, he is shown that whenever he fights alone he comes out injured, and only by relying on others can he ever stand a chance at success.
For me, Guts' fantasy of winning battles on his own is very appealing. When I play souls games I tend to avoid summoning and such because I really like feeling that I alone accomplished everything. But at the same time, I think souls players can be blind to the message Guts experienced time and time again. Sometimes avoiding help from others will make your success too painful. And plus, sometimes summoning is just a ton of fun.
I thought this video was really incredible, great job!
What I got from guts is he uses every advantage he can get. He doesn’t limit himself he’s all in.
In the context of Elden Ring, that means use everything. Craftables and consumables, spirit summons, ranged, magic and melee.
He does use magic. That’s what the berserk armor is and his transformation.
Guts doesn’t have the pride not to use a trick. He’s just helbent on destroying Demons.
The Goblin Slayer is very similar. Usually works alone but is very resourceful.
Both of those characters would use spirit summons if available to them.
They operate on a total war no rules scenario.
I enjoy the challenge, plus having summons waters down the fight
Excellent take on berserk. I tend to play my Guts pre-Conviction arc mindset. Alone. Brutal. Your take is very accurate to mature Guts
To answer your question about the corpses formerly known as commanders Niall and O'Neil, the O' part of O'Neil usually would mean "the son of neil" or "descendant of neil" and Niall is a name that eventually became Neil in real life.
O'neil is surprisingly difficult if fought earlier in the game. Unless you use specific weapons or strats.
Niall is much harder but you normally wont be facing him til much much later.
I think it’s important that Margit can’t fall out of his arena. He’s designed as an essential skill check of a boss fight, and he has a pretty grand moveset. If he could fall out of the arena, he would do it pretty much every single time and it would just be a joke
Also DJ Peach Cobbler is bae
If u use the jelly summon the boss is doable early on i hit the wall on continued fighting. Believe the boss was beat with jely or skeletons but even if u beat him the banished knoghts each felt like black knights from the first time
More like if he could be cheesed to fall off the arena that’s all a lot of people would ever do, even if it took them longer than it would to just take some time with the moveset to learn how to interact with it.
You know, kinda like using a summon to distract a boss so you can just take free ranged shots into their back.
It makes sense from a lore perspective when you understand he's an illusion made to seem physically real to test us
It's not like there aren't other bosses that actually can be dropped off a cliff in this game, the night's cavalry in calid on the bridge being the one everyone cheeses that way
@@PhalisoBringerOfDoomhe summons a shade of himself there specifically because he knows a tarnished will try to kill Godrick first and he doesn’t believe that Godrick will be able to stop us😂
It’s a pretty great lore explanation for why Margit is so much harder than godrick
Now do a video titled:
How I Learned To Level Up My Vigor
For me, it was watching _someone else_ play Bloodborne, and just not die despite a bunch of mistakes.
For the record, I had done at least three playthroughs of 1, 2, Demon's Souls _and_ Bloodborne at the time. Of course, that was well past the point where I was just good enough to enjoy a Fromsoft title _without_ the health boost, so I pretty much just noted it as a curiosity and moved on playing knowing that I was making the game harder than intended, but at least it's a _decision_ now.
@c 0:22 onnerblank5069
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I played glass canon pyromancer on Ds3 and glass canon mage on elden ring, i never leveled up vigor on my first playthrough 😂
I've never had less than 40 vigor before entering Leyndell, and only in the first playthrough did I have less than 60 vigor before Farum Azula/Haligtree (other than a run where I specifically never got more than 40). Watching people who aren't doing challenge runs/speedruns be vigor checked is always painful for me.
When he called his 26 Vigor build “endgame ready”😂
20 vigor is good for 70% of the game
There were multiple moments in endgame boss fights, where I got the impression that the devs somewhat intended for players to have 60 vigor by then because I barely survived certain attacks - Malenias big thrust for example.
@@magoochito Only true for the top 20% of Elden Ring players, the rest usually only play once or never "git gud". As for me, I find I have the most fun in souls-likes if neither I nor the bosses die too fast, and the easiest way to do just that is to have high health and defenses, and no cheese or otherwise OP build.
More vigor means more chances to survive hits means more heals from drink means more time per run to learn patterns
I loved summoning Latenna every chance I got, because getting her summon felt like recruiting an actual companion not just picking up the ashes of a random famous or ordinary guy(s). It's me and her against the whole world!
Latenna and Tiche for me are the best summons bcs I also get this feeling
Same with the dung eater puppet
I really hope the dlc has more summons you have a legitimate connection too. Dung eater, Latenna, Seluvis puppets, etc. way more interesting than just picking up a summon and using it.
@@esssss8415well you got the dragon lady, not sure if there is anyone else tho
as someone who spent days bashing my head against the weirdly Ornstein and Smough shaped wall during my first proper playthrough of Dark Souls, which i think permanently altered my problem solving skills in these games, hearing you say that this game administers punishment to tell you you’re not ready yet or youre going the wrong way is really insightful. like maybe its very simple and im just kinda silly but it definitely makes sense as to why i did not like this game when i finally picked it up the first time last year
You see my friend, you're an idiot. A buffoon. A silly goose. Whereas i am an ascended being with true 500 IQ. I beat Ornstein & Smough on my second try, getting stuck there is for the unwashed plebs like you.
I instead made better use of my time by... Being stuck for two days on Undead Burg with the fucking Taurus Demon. Don't ask me why, i just sucked that when i started out.
Soooo I might be the dumbest Souls player ever, because I just fought O&S 168 (I counted) times until I won. And then in Elden Ring, I fought Margitt 74 (I counted) times until I won. I didn't even try other weapons or anything, just brute forced the fights.
And then my husband started telling me about all the cool stuff he was finding in caves and such that I considered that maybe, just maybe, I was playing the game wrong. It just didn't occur to me to go elsewhere. 🤷🏽♀️
@@sharonbebop9460 yeah exactly. like dark souls imbued in me the defining trait that if i keep trying, over and over (and over and over) i will get through eventually. playing elden ring, where that is essentially a terrible way to play, is rewiring the fromsoft part of my brain
@@big-man-c77 That's not actually a terrible way to play, though? Sure, it means sometimes you'll do things outside of the intended order, but that's honestly one of the coolest things about Elden Ring compared to other Souls games - *you can do things out of order.* Learning a boss through trial and error is expected, and a completely new player *will* do that even with the easier bosses. Elden Ring just gives you tons of options for when you get frustrated with a boss!
@@impishlyit9780 oh yeah for sure! i really appreciate the non-linearity afforded to you in elden ring. its also just a side effect of my inability to give up and go somewhere else if i see even a little bit of hope towards beating a boss when it would be so much easier if i just went somewhere else and leveled up a bit and attained a better weapon haha
Ive beaten this game well over 100 times and ive found that the best way to have fun in the game is to RP as a character like you have in this playthrough.
You were not you as a player but Bug the character, determined to RP as this character bug who was determined to kill god as such.
Thats what makes the game fun.
Im currently working on a "Dark Lord Jesus" build who uses thorn based attacks and sorceries along with blood based skills to kill all he comes across and invades all in the most blasphemous way possible to the fingers.
Its a hilarious level 200 RP build that even if i lose the PvP matches its just fun to RP as.
I also have a Pyromaniac build who uses Lava Curved Swords in powerstance and fire/lava based skills.
A Alex Louis Armstrong character who useses spiked caestus with cragblade aow, 99 str and only uses pants for armor.
A Lord of Vigor build who has 99 Vigor 60 Endurance full bullgoat armor, great star weapon with prayerful strike aow and all talismans for maximizing my HP and defenses
100 times? How many hours u got
@@SkyPs5 well over 1k hours between the PC version and the PS5 version both of which I've also 100% completed too
i agree 1000 percent, i did a bobby baratheon build for my first play through and it immediately draws you deeper into the game, kinda doing a knock Aragorn atm in prep for the DLC
The amount of courage and wisdom it takes to admit you are wrong in life (and the internet) then taking the extra step and redoing prior work is ENORMOUS. You are due respect and then some for this video. The "then some" being a subscription from me haha
Not enough of it in this world. People are too proud and value their ego too much so I have big respect for people like this guy. Great video.
Today... We Feast
Edit: Damn... Thane you just made the Rennala first phase sound much more worse
1:05:58 I don't know who this man is, I am a faithful believer of Bug
Yeah, what kind of heretic would doubt Bug?
Tldr the power of friendship is the key to Elden ring ❤
I love that the doubter of Bug, Clarent, came back in the end to help Bug slay god, to atone for his doubt.
I love the video, but please, level your vigor
I loved the Game Theory video on the rhythm of Dark Souls! I'm sorry to hear it's unlisted, I absolutely loved the way they broke down the fight. I hadn't played a Dark Souls game at the time, and I still haven't played 3, but I'm pretty sure I rewatched that video at least a couple of times. Thanks for reminding me of it, and I'm glad someone else was as affected by it as I was!
I wondered why I couldn't find it again. One of my favorites.
You might be able to find it on Shoddycast, since Austin moved back their after leaving Game Theory but I'm not sure
killing that giant dragon everytime has become a sort of ritual for me, i have no idea what her story is, but ive created the tale in my head that shes suffering due to old age and is unable to die except by the hands of a tarnished, who is rejected by death. because of this i get to convince myself im doing a good thing AND get to take that sweet sweet gold
I love this so much, i just started playing Elden Ring again after constantly putting it down because im no good at souls games! Now with a fresh save, I've beaten Margit with no summons and only 2 handing a greatsword! I feel so proud i learned his moveset, and im having a blast!!
Oh, a fellow player that finished the game without knowing they could use great runes.
I liked the game immediately, though.
I stumbled on it myself was exploring the castle when i found the bridge then on the description of the rune ut mentioned the bridge
I grabbed Godricks rune from the tower right after I beat him and it took me until Altus to realize I had to use a rune arc to activate it😂 but before I got the great rune I was using rune arcs thinking they were like embers
they needed to and should have them stronger, and shoved them in your face over and over again so you couldnt miss them imo, such a misused aspect of the game its part of the Elden ring and should be a big juicy buff
There is an explanation for the run back to Renala. She was in a marriage to end the war with radagon (who we know is marika) & then he left her for Marika (people don't know they are the same person) this was seen as an abandonment to Renala & she developed a hatred for Marika. Due to this she took out all statues of Marika in the academy due to the hatred. There is no stake of Marika in the entire academy for this very reason.
Saying that the lore justifies making a runback horrendous is a terrible argument. If there was a stake inside the academy, hardly anyone would care and it would just be an oddity, hardly anyone would care.
Besides, there is a way to have stakes in the academy without lore conflicts, and that's by making the stakes depict Radagon instead. This not only stays consistent with Rennala's hatred of Marika, but it subtly foreshadows the reveal of Radagon and Marika being the same entity.
@chaoskiller6084 it's 1 single run back that has no emeies if you run up the stairs to the right & is shorter still than almost every ds1,2 & 3 run back. It takes a few seconds with just the longest part being waiting the 2 seconds of the elevator going up.
So yes, lore matching up in this case is nice as it's the only exception of a boss runback like this & makes it stand out intentionally to be unique. If that bit of a run back bothered you, never play the other souls games.
@@themuffinprincesa21Faulty logic. You’re assuming that this person somehow didn’t mind running back to the boss in previous games. Most people didn’t I’d wager but it’s easy to justify as a ‘learning experience’.
It’s actually just tedious.
@@OneEyedCloud01 if you're running back to renalla a lot, you do need learning experience as she is the easiest remembrance boss in the game with also the lowest poise boss that staggers to almost any weapon classes attack regardless of 1 or 2 handed.
Also, it's not a long run back at all. If that bothers you so tremendously, you're already playing the wrong type of game because you lack basic amounts of patients
Oh no! no stake of marika! F no!
Also try to see every boss a its own mini game. It's ok to work on a boss several days. You just say to yourself "ok this week it's this boss's time". Sometimes you only need 3 sessions, and after that you really know the rules of that boss, like you know the rules of some other game like Mario Kart or something. Comparing a boss to a Mario Kart stage is also helpful. You need days to be really fast in them. At the end it's like a dance and feels really good 🌌💟
Your stream was my first experience with live streams. Couldn't have asked for a better introduction o7
I had the weirdest experience watching this video, because I couldn't help but recall a random academic paper I read a while back[1]. It was about conversational analysis of echolalia and other communication in autistic kids, and I really liked it because it took the radical approach of going "what if we study these autistic people as if they're.. people!". Specifically, there was a section where a young boy and his mum were talking about an insect that had entered the room: "The sequence culminates then in pure speech and sound play, a vocal, rhythmical duet of consonant variation around the ‘‘bug’’ sounds, starting with Aaron’s ‘‘bug hug’’ in line 229". The key word here being "play": Basically, it was a silly conversation that devolved into Aaron and his mum just being like "bug bug bug bug" as a sort of game. I really love this paper, and others by this same author (Laura Sterponi) because she effectively shows how much we can learn if we literally just analyse autistics as if they are active agents in the world, with their own motives and complex inner worlds, even if our modes of communication seem different. As an autistic scientist, I have a lot of beef with the shortsightedness of a lot of autism research, and people like Sterponi are making good progress in making autism research less ableist in my opinion.
Anyway.
bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug
[1] (Sterponi, Laura & Fasulo, Alessandra. (2010). “How to Go On”: Intersubjectivity and Progressivity in the Communication of a Child with Autism. Ethos. 38. 116 - 142. 10.1111/j.1548-1352.2009.01084.x. )
I don't know what this is doing under an Elden Ring video, but as an autistic psychologist, this was fun to read
@@Jesserd95 indeed lol
I don't know if you will read this but latenna's quest is one of the most important quest due to the fact that the objectif of the quest is to give hope and a chance to the alburinaque a real chance in life, her big sister will be able to create a life more sustainable and less difforme they will be able to walk on their own legs
DJ Peach Cobbler: referenced
Neuron: Activated
A fellow hat enthusiast! When I was trying to convince my best friend to play Elden Ring, I used to tell him I was in it for the hats, and would send him screenshots wearing different hats. The scarab hat was one of them. Your video confirms one thing for me: There are so many ways to play this game, and it's important that you find the way that brings you the most joy.
Right now I'm going through the same journey you did. Even though I completed Elden Ring on release, I can't actually say I had much fun. But now that I'm going through it again in anticipation of the DLC, I've finally found my stride. I learned to just take what the game gives me. I try to complete each boss in the "get gud gamer" way. But if the boss pisses me off, I just mimic tear. Exploring as I see fit. I've found a new appreciation for it. Thanks for doing this project. Cheers!
“Varre’s kind of a vile piece of shit”
That caught me off guard. It’s not wrong, I simply was not expecting it. Good video, I sub(way).
i will have to watch this later, as I'm still in the middle of playing Elden Ring for the first time. But I'm glad to say it's the one FromSoft game where i can somehow say I'm genuinely having some level of fun with it. At the very least I laugh at mistakes a lot more. I think it's because I know that if I'm struggling with something, i can always move over to something else. I'm not forced to bash my head against something that's brick walling me, i can always invest my time somewhere else and come back to it with a fresh head or different tactics.
I very much get that's not the traditional fromsoft loop, which understandably means it doesn't match what most people are used to. I'm also sure there's probably gonna be stuff that might prove to be "too hard" for me, but. it at least is doing something no other souls game has allowed me to do, and that's feel like I'm possibly learning how to play a little bit better than i ever have. I dont know if I'll ever want to play other fromsoft games because of it, but it's at least nice to make noticable improvements.
Same. I was fighting Melania and just. Kept. Dying. It started to drain my passion for this game. So, I walked away. Killed Maliketh and the rest of the story bosses before Radagon, and went back after watching a good guide. I tried a new skill, and attempted a new tactic. And after a few new tries, I got her! That’s what I love about this game. It gives you such a rush for coming back to challenges with new abilities and conquering them
Get vigor to 50 then level ur wep to 10 or 25 if its not somber- now you got it easy mode!
@@normanbestboi9117 No such thing as easy mode for a first-time Malenia fight, my friend! (Unless you know a scripted fight, but that's no fun.) As for OP, if you keep getting better by playing different parts of the game, eventually you'll enjoy it enough to actually learn the hard fights. There's no such thing as too difficult a boss if you're willing to try new strategies and give it a few attempts!
@@impishlyit9780 true, i also think people claim others are over leveled too much, like- having 60 faith, 60 strength, 60 vigor, 60 mind, isnt over leveled.
Like that 60 faith may just be for one incantion (default lightning spear) and such.
Always bring a ranged option inyo a fight.
Eh you've got plenty of time, dont build it up in your head lol play the other games man
DUUUUDE thank you for making a vid about my favorite game :) my favorite video essayist and my fav game. i am feasting today
I took like a year long hiatus from elden ring after having beaten the game multiple times but still going into higher and higher new game +. And when I came back I steam rolled through this game totally solo and even bosses that I was dreading went down in a handful of tries. And nothing made me love the game more than having struggled and having seen the improvement. The lore is something I fall asleep to every night. I love this game.
I had a ton of fun in Elden Ring. The enemies did very little damage, and it was pretty easy...
I had 80 vigor.
😂
You definitely get a like for that cultured Machinima Respawn Inbox reference from your chat.
I'm still Flabbergasted that you were able to pretty much beat the game twice without knowing you could use the bosses spirits to gain powers. As i said before, I'm highly impressed you were able to. You had already completed the hard mode challenge twice without even knowing it 😂 Bug was never a debuff, just pure confidence
Yea my mate did the same thing but with sekiro. That just had me dropping my jaw in disbelief that he’d beaten it without using the bosses to strengthen himself. He doesn’t even think he’s a good player. Some peoples skills just make me sick
So glad this video finally came out. I can say that my favourite time on a live stream was the ones done for this video because it lets you interact and connect in a different way than you would with a larger creator.
oh my god somebody mentioned enchanted arms. I played that as a kid, got very interested and then very frustrated and quit, and I swear NOBODY I talk to has ever heard of it.
You’ve earned my subscription. Excellent story-telling. Can’t wait to binge your videos on my drive to work and see all your future videos.
I beat Elden Ring today. I beat it primarily by furlcalling other player summons into my game for help. I solo'd all the way up until Maliketh before I hit the wall and simply couldn't surpass it. I was a struggle up until then that saw me disavowing the game, uninstalling multiple times, and generally disliking it for being too challenging. Now that I've beaten it with the help of friends online, there is no way I would play another FromSoft game without something akin to this feature. I think it's the only way I can enjoy these games going forward. The fights become infinitely more enjoyable if I'm struggling with other people, and when we win together, it truly is amazing.
Never have I heard such a long intro for “look at me I make videos”
Great video. I spent more hours than I want to share collecting/exploring. Loving the decor,stories, and parallel history. Yet, it sounds like you had more fun than me.
Can't wait for this to become the cult classic elden ring video essay
Really enjoyed this video, came across as so honest and genuine, down to earth and humble. Liked/subbed!
The run back to Rennala is tedious because of the fact that there is no stake of Marika since, you know, she stole her husband (which is herself wtf).
Still stupid and unecessary, it being disguised as 'lore' is a ridiculous excuse
@@Chilli_Tea You can always stop playing the game if it is too hard for your little brain.
@@Chilli_Teait's far from a horrible run back.
@@Chilli_Tea Almost every single thing in Hidetaka' games stem from "lore", from difficulty to spells. So it's not an excuse, it's just you whining
Sr... You have to go back and fight the REAL final boss, which lives in the Haligtree.
I'm gonna finish the video later but man it's been amazing so far
Great video! I dunno if you’ll ever see this but you can actually stop that giant metal ball before Rennala’s fight by going left of moongrum’s little area, and left again onto this little ledge against the building. You can open that door that you couldn’t open on your way in as a shortcut. Then you just climb the ladder up, defeat the pumpkinhead and mages and the marble stops spawning permanently
local man discovers the elden ring was the friends he made along the way
I've really gotta wonder how this entire experience (and probably your prior experience too) would have been coloured differently if you just put some more points into VIG.
Every character I make has 60 VIG. I know that’s a lot but I feel like it makes a pretty noticeable difference
Couldn't stop thinking this while I watched. So much of his run was spent ramming his head into a proverbial wall because he was seemingly getting 1-shot by endgame content.
Unrelated, but I didn't realize you had returned to RUclips!? I remember watching some of your DS1/DS2 videos years ago before noticing you hadn't uploaded in years.
i saw one of your videos literally minutes ago saying you where working on some elden ring, i looked it up and never found it... boy how lucky i am
nice profile pic
@@elios7623 thanks bro
Wow. Beautiful video man. Your Elden Ring run ended up being so much more wholesome than I expected and it was lovely. Great work on this analysis.
This is a wonderful video. As someone who just finished the gaping dragon on his first playthrough, i dont necessarily feel these things, but i love your way with words on this topic. ❤
The shared struggle and triumph changes the game completely.
"Hyper paranoid" is the most fitting term for my personal experience with this game. And I got addicted to that paranoia. 😂
The part where he put the bug hat on was hilarious, I almost lost it. Such a funny gag!! So hilarious!!
It's occurred to me that this is very similar to my experience with, not Elden Ring, which was actually my introduction to any souls or souls like series and I loved it from day one, but Dark Souls 1.. Took all the way up to NG+2 for me to actually love it..
48:33
The thing with summons (especially when paired with ranged builds) is that you can just let them take the aggro while you safely attack their back. Which is precisely what happens in the next clip at 48:53. At that point, what is the difference between fighting Radahn, a dragon or a random soldier? It's effectively the same experience mechanically.
So it does , objectively, lessen the fight to some extent. All the time and effort spent creating moves and balancing how they interact with the player is wasted. All fights will feel similar if approached in the same way.
This isn't me gatekeeping or saying dumb stuff like "your victory didn't count" but simply stating the fact that Summon can take away part of the experience , which is learning a fight and overcome its difficulty by learning how to counter the boss's attacks.
And someone might not care about that, maybe they just wanna explore the game and have fun playing around with OP stuff.
But let's not pretend that they don't fundamentally change how the game plays.
And this is coming from someone who thinks that a decent amount of fights are way too hard without summons for newcomer or people who don't dedicate their life to souls games. The time it took me to solo malenia on my first playthrough was comparable to the time it took me to beat late game bosses at LEVEL 1 in older FS titles.
I'm all for adding more tools to make souls e more accessibile, i just wish it was stuff that didn't so drastically alter a fight.
I mostly disagree, to the extent that Elden Ring, more than any previous fromsoft title, balances it's bosses with summons/coop in mind, at least partly. The bosses have a lot more AOEs than in previous games, and will regularly focus on different targets. In addition to that, let me ask you, what is better : someone winning in a fight where there's still a reasonnable amount of challenge with the help of summons, or someone who gives up the game before they manage to win the fight ?
Coop has always been a core part of the souls identity, summons, in my opinion, fall within the same category : there's help if people want it. I don't personally care that there's summons in the game, it doesn't take anything away from my experience, because I can choose not to use them. Whether other people use them or not affects your experience of the game even less.
I think providing an option to call for help is much better than any other 'easy mode' option
@@FastFoxFR Summons are significantly stronger compared to past titles. They are such a big deal and they are discussed so much precisely because they are so strong. They easily compensate for the fact that bosses have more AoE attacks. This isn't really a matter of opinions.
I've never said that people shouldn't use them, in fact i said that there are bosses that i consider too hard to solo for most players.
and again I never said the people shouldn't do co-op either. The point was discussing the impact of summons on the gameplay which is undeniable.
My problem with summons is that they can lead to the development of bad habits in new players and they prevent them from learning basic skills like how to deal with the pressure of a 1vs1 fight or how to find openings.
@@FastFoxFR i totally agree with you on your point about Co-op and summoning; no arguments there.
but i strongly disagree about the game being balanced around using summons. Elden ring being FromSoft's first open world souls, looks like to be balanced around 'Exploration'. if the player, goes on and explore the Limgrave + WP (Because why not?!), they should steamroll their way into Stormveil and Godrick. same goes for every other region of the map. the amount of Golden Runes, upgrade materials and Gear you find if you explore is simply mind boggling.
but using stuff in souls games (other than Smiting stones and their Spirit equivalent) require actual knowledge of the game and the underlying mechanics which not all the new players have. so From choose a workaround to reduce new-blood frustration and maximize sales numbers. they introduced Spirit Ashes so the player can use them in case they felt underprepared for an encounter.
and i also think beating a boss while being Over-Leveled is immensely more satisfying than beating a confused Boss AI in the back. but From shat the bed whit their way of implementation that cuts off the need for Exploration; the core premise of an open-world RPG (for anything other than summon upgrades). it's not people's fault when the devs put summons in the game and they give them to you in your first 5 minutes.
This is totally my opinion tho.
Your thoughts at the end of the video that what makes something good is the ability not to be able to replicate it again instantly made me think of the glory days of early Destiny. I don’t think anything will ever hit as hard as those first couple raids with my friends
Anyone struggling with a difficult boss I really reccomend u recording your battle and studying it really helped me understand my mistakes. I find it helps where they have really fast move sets and where it’s difficult to work out what’s going on
I struggled with Elden Ring as well, and after some time with it (~30 hours) concluded that it just didn't give me what I wanted from a FromSoft title, and gave up. I've recently been giving it another chance, and this video has helped me give voice to some of my own problems that I couldn't quite explain. I only got a third of the way in, since I don't want spoilers, but what i watched was great.
Niall is named for Niall Noigiallach, the semi-mythical ancestor of the O'Neills, and roughly half of Ireland. O'Neill is thusly, likely, Niall's son, grandson, or descendant.
Bro really said red wolf is the best designed boss in the game 😂
Ong ☠️☠️☠️☠️
Just found you recently and now I sub!
Truly didn't expect my favorite schizoid DJ Peach Cobbler to make an appearance, but I'm not upset about it
been waiting to see this one for awhile, good stuff man :) had a really great time with the streams and engaging in some jolly cooperation!
I absolutely LOVE that you didn't level your vigor. Hell yeah. Great video
In a very large number of years I have never seen someone do that to the Taurus demon. I don't know what I believe about the world anymore.
Very much enjoyed the video.
I bought Elden Ring on advise from a friend. It was my first Souls game and I did not like it very much at the start.
Its hard to pinpoint the exact moment I realized the depth and scope of this game.
All of a sudden I could not wait to get home from work in order to try out that new weapon or spell I had found the day before.
Im now 1500 hours into the game with multiple characters and Im just starting the DLC and that magic feeling is back.
Great video! I love how you can find your own unique way to experience and play the game. That’s why the Souls community exists.
Most important quests give you item to remember what you’re supposed to do.
There are a few where you randomly find guys and they say a thing. That is less an actual quest and more a guiding hand.
You really only scratched the surface of their game design and how it feeds into itself.
Also, the finger readers really operate as your quest log. Except they tell you of notable things to do in the area.
An example of the items as a reminder just look at Latenna. She exists as a summon with a description to remind you and half a medallion that hits at the second half. She pushed me to the snow fields all on her own without looking things up.
It’s funny to me because it feels like fromsoft knows their audience. They made caelid wilds for those looking for a challenge. It’s not blocked off at all. Those people are likely to play without magic and Caelid rewards tend towards physical builds. The biggest guts Greatsword and the sweetest katana are both in Caelid.
Alexander exists in part to lead you to this area. And he speaks of a challenge.
The other way to get to Caelid is found by those fighting a dragon. You could avoid the fight and get the chest but if someone avoids too much that chest will not be found.
The path around the castle that lets you avoid the boss fights is told to you by a finger reader marked on the map.
Loads of NPC’s really exist to push you to content. Blaith pushes you to Ranni’s quest and the Manor. Alexander pushes you to the Radahn fight. Nepheli leads you to Latenna’s quest which takes you to the Hailegtree.
The Hailegtree has two paths. One from Liurnia with Latenna. The other started from Caelid with Millicent. Both take you the shaded castle and the Hailegtree.
Every major rune has mutiple threads you can pick up. It’s left up to the player which they want to follow.
The only ever present push is to the capital to become Elden Lord.
The design follows the BioWare tiered design. Limgrave, Liurnia and Caelid kinda form tier 1. With Caelid obviously being the cap. Ranni’s quest runs you back to Caelid if you mostly follow the obvious plot threads.
Valcano manor and atlus plateau are tier 2.
To get to tier 2 either requires you to fight a boss(magmawyrm) or explore extensively(explore weeping peninsula, Liurnia and Caelid).
The medallion pieces are at the back of the zones and the lift is at the back of Liurnia. Unless you’re ignoring everything the game does a good job of reinforcing and moving you along.
Props to you for actually using summons instead of being scared off by toxic souls players.
Feels like a lot of your experience is because of your perspective as a streamer and not necessarily because of playing the game, because after a point, that factor had a constant influence on your retelling of events
This is the most melodramatic video ever.
You have such great understanding of why elden ring works now. And an understanding of dark souls and their strengths/direction.
But just like your first playthrough there was still more to learn and that is VIGOR!! PLZZZ UPGRADE IT PLZZZ
While I cannot help but despise Ranni for the fact that she broke the world and then hopes to step away from it and not ever take any sort of responsibility for how badly she screwed everything over, I must say that I found quite a lot of amusement in your personal journey, and how much silly, whimsical fun you were able to find for yourself in that path of rebellion and pride. Good show. I am glad you were able to make your called shot.
Respectfully.
Her stepping away from the world is the hardest decision and her greatest triumph.
The mythos for Elden Ring was written by George RR Martin, and Miazaki loves worlds in a state of decay. We always knew this was gonna be a bloodbath of a story with hard choices. The primary theme of ER is determining which Ideology governs the world. It was already a place of extreme cruelty before the shattering, deliberate extinction, slavery, and worse are common place. Ranni's ending is the necessary revolution to reforge the world into a new and better state. But unlike all the other shardbearers, she chooses to take the godlike power you've built with her, and remove it from the system. To let people live free of the influence of the Elden Ring, rather than rule as a dictator. It's not a morally GOOD ending. But it is a more realistic ending based on how systems of power actually function and kinda is the best your ever going to get in making a better world.
@@idlemindedmage6925 I will disagree with you on the last and second to last points, but understand where you are coming from and appreciate the respectful tone in which you are conveying your opinion.
It is somewhat reasonable to suggest that removing the divine power and restrictive order from the system might allow for an eventually better outcome, if you want to look at the long term and think positively about things, here. Certainly, one could argue that you are not likely to get any villain as tyrannical as Marika in the future, insofar as her power backed her capacity to enact the theocratic regime she headed.
That said, I believe that there is every possibility things will devolve into a far worse situation before they have a chance of getting better, and the sort of leadership and power vacuum that her decision to vacate the throne allowed seems likely to cast the land once more into a very long and bloody civil war, more than it is to cause anyone to inspire or uplift anyone.
And I don't think it's necessary to remove that power and authority from the system in order to make it a better place, either. That is probably part of the reason I take umbrage with her ideals. It doesn't seem like it will necessarily be helpful, and she's sacrificed a great deal for a very miniscule spark of hope that could just as well be provided by actually having someone virtuous at the helm of the ship of state.
While that is partially true, the simple fact that the greater will is derived from the one great proves that the once great god is no longer a thing. For me, the split signifies an unbalanced shift in power between all of its parts. Having an imperfect being, missing parts of essential concepts(madness, rot, etc), and being in charge while in favor of order isn't fair to the lands between. It is quite possible that her choices can negatively impact the lands between, but I take it as a shot in the dark, and I think rannis moon is reflective of her push against fate. Also, I appreciate the civility. @CeleriaRosencroix
@CeleriaRosencroix In addition, part of Godwyns' death(if that's what you mean by sacrifice) has surely landed on marikas lap as well. It doesn't make much sense, at least for me, to deny the greater will this much and not devise a plan to remove its influence. This is backed by her jesus-like crucifixion, punishment by the greater will for her "betrayal" and deception. I may be wrong, but I have been and will be wrong many more times. Thank you once again
@@reign1594 To be fair, you are taking a very biased source as completely honest, when it comes to the "one great" thing. The Three Fingers has every reason to be sleazy and deceptive for the sake of getting what it wants to get done. Not to mention it doesn't actually *say* that the Greater Will and the God of Frenzied Flame used to be part of the same entity. It says the Greater Will divided everything and brought about disparity, which both indicates that the One Great most likely was separate from the Greater Will, and also suggests that the Greater Will is being treated as a higher entity which existed in times primordial and was able to shape events on a fundamental level during that time. "... but the Greater Will made a mistake" gives a lot of agency and power to it during this time.
Now, you can potentially interpret the Three Fingers as being a part of the entity which *was* the Greater Will, given all indications suggest that the Greater Will was represented by 5 fingers initially, when it seemingly made the Ancient Dragons and gave the Beastmen their intelligence. All indications suggest that there is a very strong possibility that the Two Fingers and Three Fingers used to be a single entity and thus that a split did occur which at least made the *messengers* of the Greater Will become less than they once were in some fundamental way, and you could definitely argue that this also represents the God of Frenzied Flame splitting off from the Greater Will. That is a totally coherent theory. This does not actually rely upon the biased source of the Words of the Three Fingers which are read off of a prospective Lord of Frenzied Flame's body, however.
That said, the uncertainty here makes the strength of an argument that breaking away from the influence of such a being is the moral thing to do significantly weaker. If one wanted to argue that the actions the Greater Will seems to have endorsed are immoral and therefore there is an imperative for the sapient creatures it has influence over to rebel against such an entity in order to allow for a more ethically aligned regime to have a possibility of taking over, I could potentially get behind *that* sort of argument. This would not mean it is necessary for Ranni to step back, however; merely to start an age where Fate and Order are kept at a distance. The choice of abandoning power and responsibility after having made such a fundamental shift in the cosmic balance, however, would still be a very hard sell, regardless.
For a long time i've thought that fromsoft games are primarily a social experience. At first glance, you're alone against an unfair world, but every tiny bit of interaction with other people feels so much more important because of it. The messages that help you (or waste your time) are definitely important to the experience; summoning people is definitely an intended mechanic, not an "easy mode" or whatever people with no friends think it is; talking about the game with other people, telling about cool little details you've found that could help others, that is also part of the experience. I think that looking through a wiki (or reading some reddit post or whatever) to find some item you want, or some piece of info you need, is also part of this "social experience" i've been talking about, but at a community level. Maybe you were not supposed to find a farming spot on your own, but the game encourage you to share your experience with others, and that necessarily means that we share this knowledge, this rune farming "exploit", or a way to do something easier, and that's in line with the spirit of fromsoft games. I think it's really cool that this social aspect of the game was key to your enjoyment of it, and more people should embrace it, instead of rejecting it.
All the 'You are expected to abuse the game even as it does it back to you" reminds me of the old Spy V Spy comics and short cartoons. The joy is finding ways to beat the system- even as it tries to grind you down back.
Heh. I had used the mimic tear a lot through the latter part of the game. But talking to a friend, I realized. It had trivialized so many of the game's greatest moments and ecnounters. So, I vowed to do The final fight(s) without a summon. It was VERY difficult, but as I told my friend, I maanged to do it "As god intended" 1V1, at the precipice of change.
Few additions to the points made in the video:
A big part that makes Elden Ring so enjoyable for me are random online interactions. It is absurd almost every time you enter another player´s world. There will be Tim ( has 8 vigor in Farum Azula, does magic, fatrolls), Lone Ronin Takahashi (dropped his samurai armor, uses Blasphemous Blade and summoned you), Anime references gallore and Pretty Roenna (wears the cutest outfit you´ve seen, wrecks people in PVP, solos the boss without breaking a sweat). These people clashing again and again makes such a great contrast to the otherwise somber and often bleak world you´re experiencing. Also, PvP makes for some of the most fun and engaging content I´ve done in these games. Participating in coop and PvP also is a great source of both runes and the otherwise scarce rune arcs.
The discussion about spirit summons has been had in a million places, but just to add something i´ve rarely seen talked about: a lot of the ashes have unique mechanics and interactions that you´ll just miss out on if you don´t use them: Latenna will hijack enemy wolves and become a mobile archer. The demi humans gain red eyes if summoned at night and will be way more agressive. Rats are free, both in terms of summoning costs and runes for upgrading and will become more numerous if upgraded. Putrid corpses deal effectively no damage, but also take almost no damage and will have aggro 90% of the time they´re in range of an enemy.
Just as NPCs give a lot more directions than earlier games, so do item descriptions. The discarded palace key (that you couldn´t have known about) directly states that it opens the chest next to Rennala.
Your description of Rennala's first phase is hands down the best
Puts that fight into an interesting, new light
The fight against margit at the intro made me flinch multiple times 😂
It appears this is the moment
The moment where you “clicked” and moved from dark souls to beyond
The reference to CPG Gray at the description of souls games was amazing
Sometimes it real fun to throw something onto a video and see who gets it
I haven't gotten past the Taurus Demon in DS1 before (only started playing recently) and your description on what to do at 8:01 literally blew my mind goddamn
Pretty much every Dark Souls 1 and Bloodborne boss is the way you described Red Wolf of Radagon
37:04 that's a bold statement when the Bed of Chaos exists
I only truly fell in love with Elden Ring when resolved to complete a run using nothing but whips, on a save file named Devo.
Just listening to someone explain Grind Souls or Elden Grind is enough to put me off. XD
I had a similar experience of comedy when I first played the game when the mad pumpkin head at fort haight dropped his iconic pumpkin helmet. I then preceded to put on the helmet and never take it off, even though I couldn't wear any other armor because of the weight. Something about the goofy ass helmet made the game so much fun.
1:01:28 yeah that moment was hilarious, also was one hell of a jumpscare
As a souls fan I still struggle to appreciate Elden Ring, it just doesn't have what I love about the souls series. I hope in time I can return and find a way to enjoy it. Steam says I have 300+ hours, but I never seem to feel like I played anything at all.
don't do everything in a single playthrough to avoid spending too much time on a single playthrough but still pace yourself (avoid burnout) and ignore what everyone says about "recommended" levels, also use what the game gives you (just think twice about summons)
9:22 Elden Souls gotta be my favorite fromsoft title
"Sorry, gamers, that'll be 500 runes" is a top-tier punchline. Thank you for the laugh.
I'm only 15 minutes into the video, and nearly 60 hours into Elden ring and this is showing me a completely different way to approach the fromsoft games that I never in my life could have conceived. The Bull fight in DS1, I never realized the archers were shooting at me until I ran so far that the boss spawned, so i got frustrated that I couldn't fight the boss without being staggered. I completely missed the ladder up for about 10 tries, finally noticed it and finished the boss fight. Never in my life did I realize there was a ledge to fall on the boss from.
When I first played Elden Ring, I had no idea there was Catacombs or caves or anything, and missed all of that and just bashed my head into Margit with a summon until it worked, same with the grafted. I quit the game for a year after that point, because I thought it was boring and unintuitive. I've since found caves and catacombs for my playthrough but get frustrated at missing quests and not understanding where to go, leading to ages of wandering around until I google.
This video made me realize I have spent 60 hours playing this game entirely wrong and I'm not sure how to feel about it. On one hand, I just passed the Fire Giant and am close to the end, but on the other, the amount of looking up I've had to do feels like its completely spoiled the game for me and now I want to start over and try to engage it from a FromSoft perspective, as alien as that experience may be.
I recently did the same thing as this playthrough, went through and played the game how it was supposed to be played, via dialogue and basic open world play. Guess what? first day found a weird ass tree I missed on my first run (where I only focused on building the most powerful build and number maxing), hit the tree, demi human explains where he's from, I go to where hes from, beat the boss. But then I noticed at the end, you could either go back to the start, or continue to through the tunnels. I explore the tunnels, not expecting much other then loot, but then I go come out of the cavern, on a island, that always though you had to do some late game content to get to. And it has a DRAGON CULTIST TEMPLE, which is the coolest thing I have ever discovered by happenstance.
I did a run that I never completed with only pants, gloves, accessories and weapons. Chest armor and helmets were out. Definitely made things complicated
I'm so glad to have found this channel
It was a real shame that u committed to the whole 5 day thing and rushed the second half of the game. I was really enjoying listening to you talk about the exploration in the first half. Not sure why you felt that it was so important to stick to that
So... the real Elden Ring is the jolly co-operations we made along the way?
01:07:00 so here's the thing about the bird method: even if it were patched and a wall was added, just turning to the right reveals a dozen sleepy albinaurics just waiting to be ganked from behind
Which is to say, that spot is the developer winking and telling you, it's a farming spot, so hop up on that John Deere and start harvesting.
As someone who still does not like Elden Ring I am eagerly awaiting experiencing this video