2021 sucked and I cannot see the backend of it soon enough. Now, to be fair, I came back from the dead twice–which is a good thing. The fact that I’m going to see 2022 is a plus in and of itself. I made this observation soon after exiting the hospital. Before my medical trauma, I was hyped for Elden Ring by FromSoft. The second trailer was released three months before I went into the hospital and I was planning how I was going to play it. See, when I play a FromSoft game, I play it on my own for the first playthrough. I try to beat all the bosses by myself, only summoning if I’m desperate. I have all sorts of rules for how I play these games and I was wondering how feasible it would be for an open world game. I thought maybe I would have two games on the go–one solo and one for co-op. I still wanted to beat all the bosses on my own for the first playthrough.
Then, I had my medical trauma and ended up in the hospital, knocking at death’s door. I defied death and with my new lease on life, I had a different view on many things as well. One of them was Elden Ring. It may seem silly to be fixated on a game, but it’s the one popular culture thing that really gets me going. I’ll buy any game FromSoft makes (except VR games, of course) and I’ll pre-order them to boot. Which reminds me, I still haven’t pre-ordered Elden Ring because I haven’t decided which edition I want.
The thing is, once I remembered Elden Ring existed (which was a day or two after I woke up in the hospital), none of my strategizing mattered. I was just extremely happy to have the chance to play the game. That was it. I didn’t care about how I was going to play it; I was just grateful that I would get to play it. That feeling has held and intensified since watching footage from the closed network test. I couldn’t participate because I don’t have a console, unfortunately. Well, I do have a PS4, but I hate playing on it. I watched Eurogamer and Oxboxtra play it, drinking it in, and PlayStation Access, too. The closed network test was a hefty chunk of the game, too. Games journalists put in anywhere from ten to seventy hours in the pre-public stress test. And it was estimated that it was maybe 1/16th of the game? Something like that.
The hype for this is unreal. FromSoft’s last game, Sekiro, was released in 2019. It had very positive media acclaim (it won the GOTY from the biggest award show, Geoff Keighley’s baby), but it was a divisive game within the community. Personally, it’s my least-favorite of the FromSoft games. I think it’s a brilliant game and I love that it showcases feudal Japan. Sekiro himself is a hottie and an interesting protagonist, but the game itself was so grueling. I’ve said for many years that there’s a ceiling to FromSoft games and that I was getting closer and closer to it. I love the games, but I’m not any good at them. The way I beat the games is by over-leveling and grinding to the point of oblivion. And, if I really needed it, I summoned for bosses I simply could not beat solo. The problem with Sekiro was that there was no leveling and there was no co-op. It was not an RPG and the only way to level up was to beat certain mini-bosses who gave you prayer beads. When you got four of them, then you could increase your strength and health bar some indeterminate amount. The final boss was above my paygrade–and I was just lucky to beat him. If took me six or seven hours and thirty-five or so real attempts and I probably could not beat him again. I have not faced him a second time ,which should tell you how I feel about the game.
I’ve played Dark Souls III dozens of times in comparison. Even the DLCS which were balls hard. I have been amazed that I’m still able to get human summons consistently for many of the bosses. Not all of them, but most. I even got a summon for the Nameless King on NG+2! I will forever remember that boss on that level because I had to beat him to get the last ring I needed to not-plat the game. The Covetous Gold Serpent Ring +2. The +3 versions of the rings weren’t needed to not-plat the game, so the +2 versions were the last I needed to get. This was what I left for last. I tried to summon for it to no avail. I had to do it on my own, which was not what I wanted to do. I died a dozen times and got more and more frustrated, wondering if I’d be able to do it at all. I was powerful at that point, yes, but there are always bosses that are difficult for you no matter what. The Nameless King is one of those for me, but my big spells helped to negate his difficulty.
I managed to do it and to get that not-plat. It made me hate the game for several months, but, thankfully, I’m over that. I got the not-plat for the second game some time after, giving me the last one I needed for the trilogy. if Bloodborne ever comes to the PC, I might give the not-plat a go. Probably not, though, because I hate the Chalice Dungeons. I found them frustrating and samesy, and not very interesting at all. Bloodborne should be my favorite From game because it’s Gothic and brooding and very much my ethos. I honestly think I’d play it much more if there was a PC port because I hate playing on the PlayStation 4. I have a terrible TV and just having to run through the menus every time I want to play. Plus, having to pay extra to be online all the time is bullshit, too. I’m a pure PC person and I’m not ashamed to admit it.
It’s snowing right now. We’re supposed to get between -25 to -35 with windchill later on tonight. I’ve ordered Thai as a way to yeet 2021 into the sun. It ‘s delicious and will be good for several more meals. I’m feeling really good at the moment and hoping that 2022 will be a better year than 2021.