As per an article written by Ian, Elden Ring is on sale for 30% off over at Steam. It’s the first time it’s been on sale, and it’s a great time to jump on in. Here is my post from yesterday.
Ian killed Radahn last night after two really close attempts (spread out among a half-dozen not-so-close tries). One time, he was one hit away from killing Radahn. His summons were doing work, and I literally shouted, “Don’t get greedy!” because he started galloping towards Radahn. And, just like it had to happen, Radahn killed him while basically having no health bar left. Ian said he wanted to get the last hit, which is understandable, but, no. You let your summons do the work. In this case, Blaidd. He is a beast, and he can heal himself. He’s literally and figuratively a beast.
Watching the fight with fresh eyes reminds me of how fucking incredible it is. As I said, he could one-shot me when I first met him, which was not fun at all. Any time I have to rely on my reflexes, it’s going to be a bad time for me. I used a summon for the second time I did this. And the third, probably. I mean human summons–not just the NPC summons. Did I do it in the second playthrough? I can’t remember. I know I’ve done it at least one other time and it was on NG+ because I just finished Ranni’s questline.
Watching Ian react with incedulity and glee during the fight sparked my joy. He said that he never got frustrated with this fight, which was so unlike me. I didn’t tell him how I won this fight because I did not want to spoil it for him. I did mention that I didn’t see Radahn die and that I actually read a book during the second phase, though. That was hilarious, by the way. When he made himself a meteor and bombed the earth. Ian got insta-killed the first time, but laughed about it beacuse ‘of course he could make himself a meteor’.
The magicks that Radahn does are Gravity Magic, which makes sense. He learned how to do them in a desperate attempt to become immortal–so he could stay with his horse, Leonard, forever. This is not a joke, by the way. He loved his teeny tiny horse so much, he allowed himself to die so he could be with Leonard for all eternity. Starscourge Radahn, to give him his full title.
Ian was going to end at midnight his time, but he had a bad case of ‘just one more run’. He kept going and kept saying it was the last time. I knew he was going until he got Radahn down. He had the sickness, and he was not going to stop.
Then, of course, once he beat Radahn, he had to talk to Blaidd and Alexander who were lingering. Then, he galloped around the arena because it’s set on the beach. There are paintings in the game that indicate areas in the world. Once you go there, you get a little treat. There is one in the general area, so he was trying to find the way to get there. He couldn’t get there from the beach, so he was about to bounce. I carefully told him to look around. There IS a catacomb in the area, but it’s not easy to find. He found it, noodled around until he got killed, then said, “That’s not for now.” It’s called the War-Dead Catacombs and it’s ghosts fighting each other. And they are really hard. Ian was surprised how little damage he did. I’m not sure if holy does bigger damage on them, but it was a rough dungeon.
Then, he went to the place on the map that was marked after he beat Radahn and there were rocks suspended in the air. His gob was properly smacked, and I was so happy. I had been waiting for ten months for this moment. He’s the person I talk about games with, and this moment in particular, I had wanted to discuss. Well, this moment and what is to follow.
Because he is about to enter my absolute favorite area of the game. Nokron, Eternal City. Actually, it’s just the beginning of my favorite area beacuse Nokstella, Eternal City is more incredible. As is Deeproot Depths, Grand Cloister in the Lake of Rot, and everything beyond.
When Ian saw the rocks suspended in the air, his reaction was everything. He could not believe what was happening, and it’s just the very tip of a whole new world. But, it’s incredible. You go to this area you haven’t been in for roughly fifty hours (as he mentioned) and thhere is this completely different thing greeting your eyes.
He had to go to bed at that point so he didn’t actually go into Nokron, Eternal City itself. He is planning on doing more Elden Ring for Christmas and I cannot wait. I am so excited that he is back into the game. I challenged him to finish it by the time Armored Core 6 comes out–which I’m presuming will be March next year? I don’t know why. Bceause they always release their games in the first quarter. At any rate, he’s not even halfway through. He’s played nearly a hundred hours, I think. But he’s properly back into it.
I have my third character going. She’s right around this area, too. But I don’t think I’ve fought Rennala with her yet. I just did God…..rick? Yes, Godrick the Grafted, and it was so easy. Granted, I waited until very late in the game to fight him, but it was a walk in the park. Yes, I used my wolves and yes, I called on Nepheli Loux, but I was laughing the whole time.
It’s so funny because the first time I fought him, even with the wolves and Nepheli Loux, it tested me. Same with Margit. Fighting him with my jelly took everything out of me. This was without Rogier. This time, it was fairly comfortable, but I did summon Rogier because I just didn’t care.
This has been the biggest change. I have no desire to solo bosses. The spirit summons are in the game for a reason and if people want to eschew them, that’s fine. But to complain about the bosses being too hard without them is ridiculous. FromSoft is allowed to evolve and change. Why do we expect a game they make in 2022 to be the exact same as one they made a decade earlier?
There was a video by a prominent Souls player a few months after Elden Ring dropped. In it, he stated that over time, it will be decided that Elden Ring was not a good game overall. Not in his opinion, but he just stated it as fact. I watched the video. His big thing was that the bosses were tuned for having Spirit Summons fight along your side. His complaint was that the bosses were too hard to solo. Which, I mean, that’s not the point of this game? Not that it really was for the rest of the games, either, but this game is specifically tuned for Spirit Summons. And FromSoft is allowed to do that! I’m being sarcastic, but I’m also not being sarcastic.
I have long been a supporter of Dark Souls II and maintained that it would have been better received if it didn’t have the Dark Souls label on it. FromSoft was in an impossible position with the sequel because people would want the game to be the same, but simultaneously to be innovative. These two things are not possible to do at the same time, at least not in the proportions in which people wanted it to happen.
With Elden Ring, FromSoft made it clear that they were not hanging their hat on difficult bosses. There are hard bosses, obviously. One is considered by many to be the hardest From boss ever. Personally, that was not my experience with her, but to each their own. But, if you are going to knowingly not use the tools of the game, you don’t really get to criticize the game for that. Of course the bosses are going to be hard solo, but they’re not meant to be soloed. If you want to do it, have at it! But don’t ding the game for playnig the way it’s meant to be played.
I have even more to say, but I’m going to end it there for now.