Ever since I got out of the hospital, a weird thing has been happening. I get my tight eight every night (which is strange in and of itself), but once a month or so, I have a few days in which I have difficulty sleeping. Then, on the fourth or fifth night of this, I sleep for ten hours. There is no rhyme nor reason for this. I’m not complaining because before my medical trauma, I slept maybe six/six-and-a-half hours a night. Ten hours was for when I was sick. Anyway, last night was one of the ten-hour nights, for what reason, I do not know.
Anyway, I’ve been cleaning up some odds and ends in Elden Ring. I have to admit that I really enjoy being able to absolutely crush things that were beating the hell out of me on the regular before. There’s an end-game field boss–oh yeah. Spoilers, end game, blah blah blah–the Black Blade Kindred (gargoyle). It is found in two places, but the one I’m referring to is the one in front of the Beast Sanctum in Caelid. I came upon it fairly early in the game and tried to take it on. That went very much not well for me. I don’t think I took an inch off its health bar. I just looked up how much health it has. 12,500!! I will point out once again that Gwyn, the final boss of Dark Souls, had 4,250 HP. A third of the gargoyle’s health, who is a repeat boss. Yes, there is another of it, which, as we all know, is one of my biggest issues in the game.
Anyway. The Black Blade Kindred haunted me for the entire game. Every fifty hours or so, I’d try it out to see how I’d do. Badly, as it were. So, of course, at the end of the game, I was curious to see how I did against my stalwart nemesis. To my astonishment, I got it in two goes and I only died once because I got caught up in some rocks. It was a piece of cake! Its kin in the Grand Lift of Rold, on the other hand, cause me more difficulty–but not much. I got it in seven or eight tries.
More musings about the end of Elden Ring. First post here. I still haven’t figured out a way to fix the save-scum issue I have so I can get all the endings now, but I have a few more ideas to try. If they don’t work, then I’ll just have to do it the old-fashioned way. In my heart, I have the plat, even if I don’t actually have it yet. I am just glad that I chose Ranni’s ending both because it’s the one I most wanted and because it’s the most labor-intensive to achieve.
I’m upset that it didn’t work, yes, but I’m trying to remind myself that I would continue to play this game, anyway, so take a look at the long haul. It helps some, but I’m not going to lie. I’m annoyed that it didn’t work, especially as it was something that was supposedly so easy–and I made three saves just in case.
Anyway, back to Diallos. Of course, spoiler warnings from here on out. Spoilers for days! Near the end of the Volcano Manor questline, he realizes he’s not a fighter and vanishes. I think his quest is done and think nothing more of it. Then, after the game is over, I discover that there is a whole small area I didn’t even know existed. It’s because it’s down some tombstones and I hate that, but also, maybe it wasn’t there at the beginning of the game? I’m not sure. Anyway, it’s called Jarburg and it’s, yes, a town of jars. One of them is Jar Bairn, who is Alexander’s nephew. Alexander is the potboi who gets stuck in the ground and asks you to smack his behind to dislodge him. He is a warrior, meaning he’s eaten the remains of warriors and wanders around, loudly and grandly declaring his intentions. He is also a fan favorite, much in the vein of Siegmeyer, the Onion Knight. I found this area when I was watching a YouTuber and she found it. I went to it and talked to the Jar Bairn until he just repeated dialogue. It was after he asked me to be a potentate and then decided my hands were too rough. Who showed up but Diallos with his poncy hands? Which he did lament at some point. He recognizes me and is a bit embarrassed, but also defiant about serving the pots.
Ed. Note:End game and NG+, so there will be spoilers abound.
Gotcha, motherfucker!
Before I get to the last phase of the last boss, I wanted to say that I started NG+ after saving my game at the end of NG. Why did I save? In case there is DLC because no fucking way I’m doing DLC in NG+ and I don’t want to start another game. It’s not something I’d normally do, but I remember how frustrating it was not to have an optimal character for the DLC when I played Dark Souls III, and I did not want a repeat of that experience. Do I think there will be DLC? Not sure. I don’t actually think there will be, but you never know.
Anyway. NG+. I went into it with 10 Healing Gourds, all the Pellets in the world (200), and all the Emblems (999 in storage). I wanted to take on Genichiro when we were equally matched, and he wasn’t just going to be able to stomp on my head. I wouldn’t have my prosthetic arm, of course, which meant no prosthetic tools. Was I confident I could take Genichiro with 7 Healing Gourds (used three to get to him, much to my shame) and 3 Pellets? No, but I was going to give it my best shot. Plus, I had a nice fat health bar, better Posture, and all the Spiritfall items in my possession. I decided to use Ako’s Spiritfall because I knew the way to beat Genichiro was to constantly attack him. The biggest difference was that I knew him so I wasn’t intimidated. I had fought him for five hours and died to him probably 60 – 70 times. I had his moves down cold (except for that one swipe to my right that ALWAYS gets me), and I was not going to back down from fighting him. I stood tall, and I kept on the offensive. He still hit hard, though, and I had to use three or four Healing Gourds to get his first Deathblow. I kept my calm, however, and I knew I could get him. Whether I would or not, however, was a different matter.
Readers, I did it. I still had 2 Healing Gourds left at the end of the fight (and 2 Pellets), and it felt good. I knew I’d get nothing for beating him, but it was a matter of pride. I know you, Genichiro, and I am no longer intimated by you. That’s one of the best things about this game–about any FromSoft game, actually, once you beat a boss for the first time, the overwhelming fear dissipates. It doesn’t mean you’ll never die to them again, of course, but it’s half the battle in standing tall.
I whizzed through the first few areas, barely breaking a sweat. I killed the first real mini-boss, the one that I had so much trouble with and whom I avoided for so long in my first playthrough, without even getting hit (yes, I got the first stealth Deathblow on him per yooz). How far I’d come! In fact, I got further in two hours than I had in ten hours my first time through. I killed four mini-bosses (three, really, the first in the tutorial area hardly counts–the leader guy) while only dying twice to the Chained Ogre because he threw me off the goddamn cliff twice, and I died once to the two spear guys as they cornered me against the wall. That’s it, though. Three deaths. I didn’t even get my resurrection ability until the last death because I couldn’t rez when getting thrown off the goddamn cliff by the ogre.
I finished Dark Souls Remastered yesterday, and I have many thoughts about my return to Lordran. One, I maintain my belief that this is the best Soulsborne game out of the ones I’ve played* because it was so fresh and innovative for the time. Things we take for granted now (interconnected levels, elaborate level design, hard-as-nails bosses, unforgiving death system, summoning, and the list goes on and on) were on display in this game. Yes, I know many of them were in Demon’s Souls as well, but they are much more polished in this game.
One thing I loved about this playthrough was comparing it to how the first playthrough went at the same points in time. First of all, even though I did a shit-ton of grinding in this playthrough, I still finished the whole game (plus the DLC) in roughly forty-two hours–which is less than a third of the time it took for my first playthrough. Or so Steam says. I’d say 5-10 hours of this playthrough was me grinding for levels, upgrade materials, and humanity, so the actual gameplay time was closer to thirty-two hours. Now, I’m on NG+ through the Capra Demon in roughly an hour and a half, but I’ll get to that in a bit.
I romped through the Northern Undead Asylum and the Undead Burg with nothing but my trusty Hand Axe and Fireballs. Yes, I was a pyro again because it’s all I ever want to be in these games. It felt like coming home to swing the Hand Axe or hurl off a fireball. It also was amazing how easily I could recall every minute detail of the map and enemy placement. I’ve mentioned before that I have spatial awareness difficulties, but for some reason, I was able to overcome it with this game. I think it’s partly because I had to play areas over and over in my first playthrough until they were seared in my brain. Now, I can go to, say, the Undead Burg and be like, “OK. Up the stairs, pause for the hellkite drake, then there are three Hollows waiting. There’s a fourth further up who is an archer. There are two Hollow Soldiers to the right guarding a hidden staircase down to the Undead Merchant (Male). There’s a door that leads to the Wooden Shield. Up the stairs to the left is the bonfire.” It’s a bit scary how much of this game is embedded in my, ahem, soul. I haven’t played the original in over a year, and it was as if I had never left.
There’s a mod for DS II that mixes up enemy placement, and while it sounds intriguing, it also sounds like my worst nightmare. One of the strengths in a Souls game is how scary a new area is, and how, by the end of it, it becomes, if not comfortable, then at least very familiar. The element of surprise is used to great effect by FromSoft to make you terrified every time you enter a new area. Once that’s taken away, everything becomes much more manageable. For example, the Asylum Demon. First time I fought him for realsies, I thought I would never beat him. Now, four or five fireballs to dat ass, and he was toast. Literally.
I also am much better at knowing what I want to do and in which order. Once I hit Firelink Shrine, I went into the graveyard specifically to grab the Zwei** and managed to run by all the skellies. I was going to be a strength/pyro which has been my jam since I tried it out in DS III. I went into New Londo Ruins to get the Fire Keeper Soul to strengthen my Estus Flask. Then, I proceeded down the ‘right’ path and decimated everyone who dared cross me.
Let’s talk stats. In my first playthrough, I did what most people do–put the levels in at random, thinking to keep things fairly even. This is a sensible approach that doesn’t work the best in Souls games. I feel the games are made in a way that encourages true builds, which means pumping two or three stats rather than spreading out the levels evenly. This time, I focused on Strength and Endurance so I could handle the big girl’s weapons. YES I MEAN THE ZWEI WHICH I USED THROUGHOUT THE GAME AFTER MAXING IT OUT AT +15. I’ll get to that in a minute as well. I put enough points into Attunement so I have five spell slots, and I have two rings that give me an extra slot each.
