Elden Ring. It’s still a thing. Ian was talking about a game he’s reviewing, and I was like, “You mean there are games other than Elden Ring?!?” I was jesting, but I wasn’t jesting. I put in ‘only’ four hours yesterday, but I’ve been putting in an average of six hours a day since it released. That’s five days. I’m just under 30 hours and have only scratched the surface of the first area. I’m not much past the first boss in the first legacy dungeon. I ran into this game’s version of a Black Knight and noped out of there. The area immediately following the first boss is…hard. Not fun. But that’s Souls for you.
I rode around for a bit, taking in the sights and finding things hidden here and there. Oh look! There’s a cave. I wonder what’s in it? A big, massive stonetroll is what! What’s up this hot air stream over here? (Where Torrent can jump miles in the air.) A bear fighting a bunch of dogs down the cliff! There is a thrill of riding past a danger and hoovering up the loot as I glide on by. Torrent is the absolute best.
Horse combat, however, is not. I mentioned it before ,but I want to revisit it because I took on two field bosses–and it was not good. It was really not good in one of the fights–the dragon featured in the trailers and the Closed Network Test. Flying Dragon Agheel. It’s the best to watch people freak out as he flies directly at them and kills them. I put off taking on Agheel because, well, I just didn’t think I was ready. I was spending too much time just exploring the world rather than focusing on leveling up so I didn’t get much early on. That’s my excuse, anyway, so I’m sticking to it. I went at him yesterday because I felt I was tuned up enough. I used the jellyfish summon for the poison stack. I got him down to half and died. Whatever. It’s a part of the game. I tried again and he got…stuck on the cliff above? What? I’ve seen it in the CNT, but I assumed they would have fixed it. But, no. And one time, he flopped back into the lake on his back–oh, right. I didn’t say, but he’s in a lake–and didn’t move. Did I win? Nothing happened until he suddenly got up again and came at me, bro. I couldn’t connect with him for whatever reason and I died again.
I died several times to him. Normally, I take full responsibility for my deaths but at least a good quarter of my deaths were because of Agheel glitching in some way and me not being able to access him or me getting caught up in the environment. Stuck in a tree, stuck behind a tree, etc. And, as I mentioned before, the sword swings themselves don’t feel weighty at all.
In addition, casting is frustratingly finicky on horseback as well. You have to be facing your enemy squarely in order to cast at them. Which, on horseback, is not easy nor is it always wise. If I’m racing away and want to shoot over my shoulder, I haven’t found a way to do that yet. Which defeats the purpose of being a caster, I think.
I honestly think I could have fought him better off the horse except for being able to escape his fire breath. There’s no way to outrun that on foot. It’s so frustrating to do well and then watch Agheel get caught up on the environment, necessitating a work around to get him down again. There is a natural rhythm to boss fights that wasn’t present for this one. I got him in the end (and got the snazzy dragon head to breathe fire as an incantation–see picture above), but there was no feeling of triumph–only relief that it was over.
I went to tackle another field boss I had found the day before (spoiler), Erdtree Avatar, by a Minor Erdtree in the Weeping Peninsula. He is exactly what his name implies–a treeperson. An ent, if you will. I ignored him when I spotted him initially, which is my wont in this game. Partly because I’m exploring the open world at my leisure and partly because I just don’t feel my character is leveled up enough. That might be just a me thing, but it’s how I feel.
Anyway, I decided to take on the Ent, using my jellyfish friend to help me out. I switch between it and my wolves, but the jellyfish is more helpful in boss fights whereas the wolves are great for mobs. The reason the jellyfish is good for bosses is because it spits out poison that can stack. And it’s surprisingly tanky for an invertebrate! It’s my buddy and long may our friendship last!
There is a Stake of Marika which made dying not as much a pain. I prepped by jumping on Torrent and summoning my jellyfish. Then, I rode in and sprayed the Erdtree Avatar with my dragon head fire before riding away and allowing my jellyfish to do its thing. I was doing pretty well until I got caught up in some pots and then fell off a cliff. The next few attempts were nowhere near as good. His range is unbelievable and I do not mean that in a good way. There have always been issues with the camera in these games and it’s worse when you’re zipping around on horseback. In addition, making Torrent turn around takes time–which is understandable, but it’s difficult to gauge ahead of time. So, you have to take that into account while you’re fighting. I acknowledge this is probably a me problem, but I have so many spatial issues that these in-field boss fights can be a real chore. Adding the horse gallop means I have yet another thing to worry about while I’m already overwhelmed with a boss fight.
So, yeah. While I appreciate the bosses out in the field for thematic reasons–and, let’s face it, it’s cool as hell–I don’t actually like fighting them. I don’t enjoy the horse-combat at all and much prefer to be on foot. If I am taking on enemies in the field one-on-one, I will dismount to fight them. If I have to fight a group, I will stay on horse for the mobility. And, of course, Torrent is the best for traveling–that has to be emphasized. But in combat, I’m at best meh about it. It doesn’t feel natural, even after all this time. I’ve seen streamers joke about fighting on horse and just waving your swords at each other as you pass by. And, yeah, it feels a lot like that. In addition, in order to hit on the left side, you have to use the Left Bumper and Left Trigger, which makes sense, but is not natural at all. You automatically put your shield on your back while you’re on horseback, which also makes sense. And you want to be double-handing so you can get more damage. You’ll still look like you’re single-handing your weapon, but you’ll do that fat damage.
That’s it for the horse-combat. It’s a part of the game I’ve accepted, but don’t really enjoy. It doesn’t stand in my way of me enjoying the game, but it doesn’t add to it, either.
ETA: I forgot to add the jumping. Oh the jumping! I hate platforming in non-platforming games, and From games are no exception. They love their platforming sections, but they are not good at them. It’s hard to tell what is safe and what isn’t. In this game, when you’re on Torrent, he takes a bit to turn, so jumping down and up can be an iffy proposition.