I tried a pyro run with both my characters (the ones with whom I have finished the game. The second character is not maxed out on Faith, so I can’t use all the fires. My first character, though, is Faithed to the max. Not much strength, though, so not able to wield many weapons. One I can use, hoewver, is the Blasphemous Blade (boss weapon), which is fire-based and gives you back health upon killing an enemy. Even when your Mimic Tear summon uses it. Which is, as you can guess, very handy.
There are some really fantastic pyros in this game. I had forgotten how great they were because I had sort of shunted them for the other magicks. Why? I don’t know. I’m such a pyro (in the games!). I really need to do NG+ as a pyro, but only after the DLC has dropped because I have my first character sitting in NG waiting for DLC.
I have to say, watching Ian go through the game on his first playthrough, it’s really sparking my own joy. The first time I fought Radahn, I hated him becasue he could one-shot me. But, in the ten months to follow, I have come to appreciate the spectacle of the fight. It’s called a festival, and it’s you and your mates going up against this demi-god. You can summon them over and over again after they die. At least you could when I first fought him. I don’t know if that’s true any longer. I had a hard time keeping an eye on the arena as Ian was fighting him.
Ian’s brother was in the chat, and we were geeking out over the fight while not giving away any specifics. It’s hard to overstate how incredible this fight is. We had been talking about how there was some mild disagreement over Elden Ring winning the GOTY (hardcore GoW fans were mad), and after the opening to the Radahn fight, Ian basically pooh-poohed those fans because as he said, there is nothing in GoW that rivaled that fight. To be fair, none of us have played Ragnorok, but I’ve seen parts of it. And, as I commented, Ragnorok did not change a genre. Sorry about it.
It’s hard to remember now, but when Elden Ring came out, it rocked the video game world. Not just the industry, though. There were people talking about it who had never played a FromSoft game before. It hit the zeitgeist at the perfect time in the perfect way, and it became an instant hit.
Ragnorok, to be fair to it, is said to be an incredible game. Powerful, and a much better GoW than the original. People have said that they have cried while playing it. So, I’m not going to slag on it, but I will point out that people are raving about it having 50 to 80 hours of content.
*Glances at first playthrough of Elden Ring, which was 225+ hours*
I know that numbers of hours is not the measure of a game’s worth, but let it be noted that there is so much in Elden Ring. Honestly, people talk about their first playthroughs being a hundred hours and still missing content. And, there’s no one telling you where to go. Literally. Apparently, this is a Sony thing. Having someone tell you where to go or what to do in case you missed it. It was very prominent in Forbidden Horizon West, so much so, it was commented on. Repeatedly. Apparetnly, Aloy just won’t shut up. And, one of the devs for Guerrilla Games griped about there not being something like that in Elden Ring.
Oh my god. One of the best things about Elden Ring is that there is no narrator. I like having a silent protag. I don’t want someone nattering at me incessantly as I play a game. I don’t have any diagnosed neurodivergencies, but I HATE not being in control of my surroundings. If I had to play a game in which someone just. talked. at. me, I would not play that game.
In addition, and I have banged on this drum for quite some time, I don’t think exclusives should get the award. GOTY should be something that in theory anyone can play. Elden Ring has steep requirements for the PC, so that could be a barrier, but you CAN play it on most of the major platforms.
Here’s the thing. I think if you play Ragnorok, you pretty much know what to expect. You know that you’re gonna follow Dad of War around with his son and have many adevntures that probably involve Norse Gods. I am not knocking this, by the way. There is nothing wrong with a game knowing what it’s about and giving you a singular experience. Some of my favorite gaming experiences are like that. I am actually not a huge fan of open world games in general. In fact, that’s one thing that worried me about Elden Ring. How was FromSoft going to be able to pull off their trademark legacy dungeons (a term, by the way, that was coined for this game. Whether by them or not, I don’t know) in an open world.
In this game, you have your handcrafted legacy dungeons (which are still exquisite, by the way), and you have the amazing boss fights. But you also have the open world. In it, there is so much unexpected discoveries. You never know if you’re going to sstumble over a dragon, an Erdtree Avatar, a big-ass bear (why so big and mean, bear????), a Tibia Mariner, or any of another half-dozen creatures. For the most part, it feels unexpected and organic, as if you are really wandering into different areas of the world. What are those monsters with tentacels protruding from their faces who breathe Death? What are those big, roly-poly guys who hit hard? And, of course, the rando dragons who are just casually blocking your path. Or the jolly old women who are dancing around and cackling with glee. Then, at the top of their area, who the hell is this twisty, bendy guy who is like plastic?
Again, I haven’t played Ragnorok. I really shouldn’t be speaking about it. But I will, anyway! Afetr Ian saw Radahn for the first time, he laughed and said, “You’re telling me Ragnorok could do this? Come on.” From what I’ve seen of Ragnorok, it’s graphically incredible. It has a hard-hitting story about a daddy and his boy. it’s set in the Norse mythos, yes, but that’s not exactly innovative on its own, either. And, yes, I know that fantasy with dragons and such isn’t exactly wold-shattering, either. The main story of Elden Ring is not unique, I will admit. Old gods who betray each other and sleep around. Yeah, that’s nothing new. Though some of the twists are, ah, interesting. But, let’s be real. The stories of the games have never been that innovative. No, it’s more the way they’re told than the actual stories themselves. Like, Ranni’s questline. If I just told you the story, you’d say to me, “Minna, that’s nothing.” Because it’s not when I just say it out loud.
However, when I actually did the questline for the first time, I was constantly blown away by the new discoveries. Part of it is because it spans several different areas on the map, some of which are only revealed for this qusetline. And then because I’d invested so much time into these characters, the ending had such a big impact on me. I still think about it from time to time.
This is the same with my favorite questlines from Dark Souls III. Not that any of them are this elaborate–but they still have an impact. And the questlines in Elden Ring are sheer perfection.
I can’t stop raving about them. I think they are highly underrated. I mean, everyone loves Rani, yes, but people don’t seem to talk about all aspects of her questline. Or the fact that it spans several areas of the game and time. Meaning, you can’t do it all in the beginning. Certain events have to happen in order for you to make progress in the questline. I can tell you here. You can’t go further if you don’t beat Radahn. So while he is not necessary for the main story (which is mindblowing in itself), he is if you want to do Ranni’s questline.
Also, and this is another amazing fact. If you get to the castle where Radahn is late to the game as I did and Ian did, the castle is empty. There is nothing impeding you from getting to it, and, yes, there are two lions with knives on their legs, but that’s it. However, if you go to the castle earlier, it’s a much different story. Ian commented on how empty it was. I mentioned that it was only empty because of when he arrived there. If he came earlier (as I did in my second playthrough), then there are plenty of enemies to fight. Plus, a dual boss fight in the main area. Which will happen after the Radahn fight since he’s done it this way. But he was saying it’s amazing how FromSoft had made this castle with no enemies–which, nope. It’s just one of those things that is just wild when you tihnk about it. Depending on when you go to this castle, you might have a cakewalk or you might have to fight a zillion enemies to get to Radahn.
And with that, I’ll call it a day until the next post.