Elden Ring (George RR Martin and From Software)

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118897875#Comment_118897875

I really pity Vaati with this game. Having to comb over every little thing and see what else it links to. But no matter how much you try to understand the story, he'll drop a video showing how a brooch a character wears that just slightly peeks out at the side of their armour means they're related to someone in a completely different way, and they were actually the good guy all along and f*ck you for killing them and teabagging them just because it took more than 3 tries to kill them.

It's going to be revealed that Commander Niall was actually your father's best friend and was trying to save you, ZC. May as well just accept it now.

johnny_ultimate

One thing that helps a little is rewatching the opening cutscene after you've played a good chunk of the game. When you first see it it's a lot of random names to take in (let alone the images), but when you've encountered a lot of them in-game it's a good starting point to help understand who is who.

Obviously a tonne more to discover in game after that!

https://youtu.be/_uydEN9Fu7M

Zero-Cool

That explains why it took so long to kill him, something inside me just didn't want to kill him. Yeah that's it, absolutely nothing to do with him being hard as nails :D

seraphimvc

yes cant wait for vaati videos. Saw his twitter awhile ago on him mapping out the lores, intense lol.

while as much as i like to support him (the man quit study to be a full time youtuber for From games basically ha), i found his videos are often lacking the 10-20% of the full story - i think it has something to do with the english localization (so ya apparently the translation is fucked up again for ER). For this time I say ok I will try to understand more of the lore myself and then when vaati videos come out i can compare ha.

also i can see there are more competitions out there on lore videos so i will watch some from others as well. And also vaati gets called out for a couple times now he took something from forum users comment but no credit given etc, that's why i wouldn't mind to support other channels/videos now.

gimli2112

I've never understood the lore in a Fromsoft game and just assumed I lacked the intellectual capacity.

seraphimvc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118897983#Comment_118897983

Miyazaki said that the story telling comes from himself reading foreign literature when he was very young - he didnt know what a clue happening so he faithfully recreates the same experience for the players lmao. so ya it is intentional.

and to be fair ER story is actually way more followable than all previous games i'd say (actually i think sekiro story is more straightforward)

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118897983#Comment_118897983

Sekiro was probably the easiest to understand because it was full of actual cutscenes. But then you watch Vaati videos and realise there's a whole bunch of hints or non-obvious items and descriptions which help build out the lore in different ways, reveal things about character motivations etc.

It's not about intellectual capacity, it's about having to read, remember and recall item descriptions, background details, small character details etc, and most people (myself included) just aren't going to take all or most of that stuff in, particularly in a first playthrough.

Retr0gamer

I find it's all part of the experience. You are just a normal guy with a sword hiding behind their shield taking on dragons and massive eldritch creatures that are far beyond your capabilities so it makes sense that you are just a lowly pawn in a conflict that is beyond your ability to comprehend.

J. Marston

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118897740#Comment_118897740

In Siofra River we are the bad guy, definitely.

Everyone gets annoyed at the sniper bulls but we're in their land, trying to invade and kill their ancient spirit stag, who is doing nothing but laying in a cave.

And then when you get to the upper level, the male bulls are herding animals.

The females are singing.

We kill them.

Keep exploring and you'll find the ruins at back of the area. A single female guarding a chest that holds an infant bulls head. We kill her and steal that.

Tarnished is a prick!

seraphimvc

Yes ya thats the biggest realization i remember killing the spiritual ancestors (not once but twice lol), "oh **** are we the bad guy" moments lol.

That infant bull head indeed we just slaughtered them and took it - i dont even need/use it lol.

ye we are the nasty tarnished. think of all the cute albi dudes we slaughtered as well...

johnny_ultimate

It also goes without saying that the worst ending in the game - where you unambiguously embrace evil and chaos - is by far the most visually rewarding of the endings 😂

J. Marston

Finished work at 4, off tomorrow, snackbox on the way home and on this for the evening. Been years since I had this enthusiasm for a game.

Stone Deaf 4evr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118898451#Comment_118898451

Im WFH today.....

been very productive.

one armed dwarf

Lore hunting in Souls/ER type games isn't that daunting I think, what it's mainly about is a neat hook to motivate replays through the game and provide reward on paying attention to details that are made more impactful with context gained from an earlier playthrough.

eg, the cutscene with Laurence's and Willem's conversation early on in Bloodborne when you touch a monster's skull in a church. Then in the DLC you learn who's skull it is.

The thing with ER is I think you can see the GRRM influences a bit, as it takes characters that used to exist mostly as a cipher to communicate the reasons for why the world is the way it is and instead makes characters more of a focus point, with backstories of their own being elevated. A certain character in Elden Ring makes a second appearance and threatens to have a full fledged arc in a game series that's typically kept that way in the background, inside an item description. So you can feel the heavy worldbuilding, even with FROM's tip of the iceberg approach

I actually think the lore videos kinda spoil things a bit. I think Souls lore is really just moreso about the absence of information and how it increases attachment of significance to what little environmental and plot details do exist. It's a more interactive narrative than something like TLOU and when you start to develop some understanding of the connective tissue between the lore on the weapon you have, the visuals of the world around you and some of the fragments of information an NPC delivers as well as what certain enemies seem to be about it can be pretty fun, and sometimes the videos kinda dilute that aspect a bit. But that's just my opinion and people play the games for different reasons. But to me not knowing everything is part of the fun, cause you can look forward to knowing more the next time through it

I think Bloodborne achieves it all the best though, as the theme of the game is people being driven mad both by knowledge and physically by what the old blood does to them. So the mystery of it works on that level

DarC_Kn1ght

https://youtu.be/DYDs_Inzkz4

Zero-Cool

170k views in 1 hour, looking forward to setting aside a good 30 minutes of non interruption to watch this.

J. Marston

In the Capital, should I go the sewers or finish the Capital and then go?

johnny_ultimate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118901138#Comment_118901138

Sewers you can do later, there’s no panic about doing them now if you don’t want to. It’s an area that’s more annoying than difficult IMO.

Completing the capital will allow you access a lot more game, whereas the sewers are more optional content (mainly to unlock the conditions for one particular ending and to take down a few extra bosses).

Zero-Cool

Sewers are an awful Bollox. First enemy you come across is a lot harder than it has any right to be and then comes absolutely annoying ones. I got something good down there but can't remember what. I only went back today to free Dung Eater (Jesus what a pleasant fella) and thought 'ha, I'm back, time to show ye who's boss since I've gone up about 30 levels since last time. Still got wrecked, **** them sewers.

Interested Observer

Can someone pls tell me how the **** to get through the lake of rot? I had some mushrooms that got rid of scarlet rot but I used them all on a failed attempt so I've none left. I tried putting on all the gear I could with the stat that blocks scarlet rot but it only marginally helped. I'm stuck now.

Zero-Cool

At the start of the lake, just leg it to the other side veering right to the big arch way. Keep healing as you go, don't mind the platforms. Once you get through the archway, there's a site of grace you can rest at to heal and get rid of the rot. You can come back another time to pick up the goodies found there.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118901962#Comment_118901962

At the site of grace, go towards your right and look for a platform you can stand on in the lake. There should be a small headstone or obelisk kind of thing on it you can interact with. Getting through the lake should be a little easier then...

Use whatever Physck tears that might help boost resistances too.

Interested Observer

Thanks both. Haven't had a chance to try again yet, I had been trying to go platform to platform but I guess I was stopping for too long, I'll just try and leg it across now.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118902512#Comment_118902512

Lets just say I highly recommend looking for a pillar/obelisk to the right (kind of south-west-ish) of the site of grace not too far into the lake and interacting with it. You should be able to get to it before rot kicks in fully.

Interested Observer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118902543#Comment_118902543

Ok thanks, again haven't played since I asked so will have a look later hopefully.

Interested Observer

Managed to get through thanks both, I just legged it through in the end. Managed to kill Astel and the dragon in the next area to boot. That's the first dragon I'd even attempted to fight, found bombing around on the horse was the best strategy.

Zero-Cool

Decided on a new build. Claimed Moghywn's Sacred Spear and made it +10. Took out all my dex and put into arcane instead. It's skill is to rain down explosions of blood and just blast chunks off the health bar of anyone in range. Only gave it a quick blast and was class. Gonna try it out on Alecto and as soon as he's done, back to Malenia.

Vicxas

I've never seen as much bullsh!t as i have in Elphael, especially that bottom path

Zero-Cool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118907970#Comment_118907970

Yupp that bottom section, man, that took a lot of hours to figure out a good strategy to just get through. Ending up finding a bit where i could climb and jump over an alcove to the best grace without fighting a bunch of guys, that's a tough run.

Zero-Cool

I still couldn't beat Alecto (sp) so went back to Malenia with my new toy, Mohg's Sacred Spear. Beat her in under 2 minutes. I'm the new LORD OF BLOOD!

https://twitter.com/Sheehy_83/status/1513234037913104394?t=0m9vO7RKeALndEhmnsznkA&s=19