I am back for one last post about the ten games that define me. I have been all over the map in the prior posts, and in the last one, I spent the entire post talking about Dark Souls III (FromSoft), my all-time favorite game. Well, at least until….I’ll get to that in a minute. It still snuggles in the center of my bosom and warms my cold heart because it was the game that got me to truly fall in love with FromSoft games. And because it showed me that with perseverance I can–you know what, no. That’s not the main lesson I learned from my time with Dark Souls III. Yes, I did hundo chievo’ed the game and eventually soloed every boss. So I could plausibly say that it did teach me perseverance in the face of adversity.
However. What it taught me more was that I didn’t have to put up a stick up my ass and adhere to the whiny fans who drone on and on about ‘gitting gud’ and being ‘pure’, whatever the fuck THAT means. (Yes, I do actually know what that means. It means not Haveling it up; not going dex; not going strength; not being Giant Dad; not summoning humans, not using magic/pyro/miracles/sorcerices/incantations; and all that bullshit. In other words, YOU CAN’T HAVE FUN!!)
Ahem.
Let’s talk about my tenth game, which is, yes, indeed, my favorite game ever. It’s one and the same for me because this game represents something pretty significant in my life.
Let me paint a picture for you. It was the summer of 2019. GeoffCon was coming up, and everyone knew that there was going to be a trailer for this game. It was leaked (that it was going to be shown), but also, it just seemed like it was time.
The trailer was hype. Everyone was hyped for it. I was already looking forward to the game, and I could not wait. The trailer, which I’ve included belowe, blew me away. I could not wait for the game, even though I was going to have to wait–along with the rest of the world.
That game?
10. Elden Ring. Developed by FromSoft, of course. It was my most highly-anticipated game of all time, and the announcement trailer did not disappoint.
Then, however, the ppandemic happened. And FromSoft went quiet for quite some time. It was so long, fans starcted making up their own areas, enemies, and bosses in the game–which was actually quite sweet. This was on Reddit, of course, which is usually a cesspool. In this case, however, it was a force for good, and it really lifted my spirits as I waited for the game to release.
I had so many plans for the game. I had no idea what an open world Dark Souls was going to be like, of course, but I decided I would have two different characters. One for solo play and one for co-op. I was going to play as a pyro, of course, because that’s what I always do. I was going to try to solo all the bosses because that was my thing, too.
Then, I had my medical crisis in the fall of 2021, and all my plans went out the window. When I was able to compprehend that I was alive and would be able to play anoter Miyazaki game, it was a profound moment for me. I no longer cared about all my carefully thought-out plans for the game. Instead, I only had one–to play the game. That was it. I did not care a whit about anything else.
In tandem, I had to get a new desktop PC because the one I had was ten years old. I had a laptop as well, and by the end of those ten years, I was only using my laptop. I decided to spend a bit more to get a PC that would last me five years or more. I wanted one that could play Elden Ring comfortably and not have to worry about stutter, lag, or crashes.
This is so unlike me, by the way. Normally, I skimp and scrimp, and I get juuuuuuust enough to get by. And then I’m not happy because, well, I got the very barrebone deskktop. This time, I got a fairly beefy one (that is not close to obsolete, of course), an additional monitor, and I was happpy as a clam. Why is that a saying? How happy are clams?
I was happy to have a beefy (for me) set-up for my most anticipated game ever.The game came out on February 25th, 2022–five months after I got ouut of the hospital. When the game dropped, there were warnings that the PC port wasn’t very good. I went in cautiously, but I had to try it out day one. Fortunately for me, I only had one hard crash and a tiny bit of microstuttering.
None of that mattered. I was nearly in tears as I did the first bit of the game. Five months prior, I had died–twice. I was told while I was in the hospital that it might take six months to a year if not more to be functional again.
The fifth day I was awake in the hospital, the physical therapist (PT) took me to walk down the hallway. She had a walker with her, but she urged me not to use it if I did not need it. Slowly and hesitantly, I walked down the hallway without using the walker. I was exhausted by the time we reached the end of the hallway, eventhough it was maybe twenty feet at most. Probably more like fifteen. Then, she guided me up half a flight of stairs and back down. We rested for a few more minutes before going back to my room.
She came back the next day, and we did it again. She had a few things to say, with one of them being that I should walk a certain way. I told her that was against my Taiji belief, which she did not like. I decided it was more important for me to get out of the hospital, so I would say whatever she wanted to hear to get out. I knew my teacher would understand, and she did.
Elden Ring means so much to me. I wrote an article about it for an actual gaming website, and I played it every day for a very long time after. I still play it quite often, and I have done six or seven full playthroughs including the DLC. Which, by the way, is astounding and a game in and of itself. I will probably talk more about that later, but for now, let’s stick to the base game.
I will admit that I was skeptical about an open world Dark Souls. One of the things that made the Dark Souls games special was that they were such crafted experiences. I should have trusted that FromSoft would find a way to nicely balance the open world and the more guided experiences (called legacy dungeons in this game).
I was also worried about the map because From has never done a may before (except the joke map in Sekiro). I should have trusted them on that as well. I’m not going to go into detail about the map, but it’s brilliant.
I have more to say about this game, but I’m done for the day.