Still talking about the second half of the game. Elden Ring, I mean. Honestly, if we were just talking about the first half of the game, I probably would give the game close to a 10, no notes–or at least very few notes. Yesterday, I was talking about *SPOILERS* the underground and how elaborate it is. It goes on and on and on, and it’s just jaw-dropping in is entirety. The underground itself, I have a few notes, but mostly for one part of it.
The second half of the game, though, I have several notes. Honestly, my biggest one would have been to cut out half of it. All the cut-and-paste bosses (who then became common enemies), the repettion and two of my least-favorite areas (Mountaintops of the Giants and Miquella’s Haligtree) are in the second half. Caelid is grim, but it is a top-notch area. In concept. I hate going there when I’m frail and weak, but it’s integral to the game.
I really feel like From wanted to pad out the game, and I have no idea why. If they had cut out those two areas, it still would have been a cracking game. In fact, I think it would have been better. It would have tightened up everytihng and made the experience better. I know that the Fire Giant was a pivotal boss, but he’s such a blah boss and his area is just annoying AF.
My PSA to devs: Not being able to see in a game is not fun. I always find it amusing when they want you to adjust the gamma until the image is just barely visible. I crank it as high as it can go unless it looks washed out. Most of the people on YouTube are like me. They laugh at the ‘make it barely visible’ notification and crank that gamma.
As someone with terrible vision and almost no periphery, I really don’t appreciate games that mess with my vision. I have enough trouble when the gamma is bright and there is nothing blocking my sight. Once you add all that shit, it menas I’m fighting my hidden disability along with the game.
PSA 2: A lot of people pooh-pooh the idea that games should make any concessions to people who do not have perfect vision and terrific reflexes. In Final Fantasy XVI (Squeenix), there are rings that make various things easier. People hated on them, which made no sense to me. No one was forced to wear them, so why not just let it be? But, no. They were outraged at the fact that this would even BE in the game.
Same with Celeste (Extremely OK Games). It is a grueling platforming game that has a bunch of assists to make it easier on people with varying disabilities. If I ever played the game (and it’s supposed to be incredible), I would use several of the helpers because my platforming is abysmal. And it’s one thing I hate about From games–their insistance on including platforming even though that is not their thing. It’s hard enough to do well in a platforming game, let alone a game that isn’t a platformer. It’s even worse in Elden Ring because platforming with a horse is abysmal when not done with utmost care.
Anayway, there are some assholes who insist that even having the assists in the game ruin it. It’s the same mentality that makes people say anything but a naked onebro run in a From game is cheating, cheesing, or shameful.
Back to Elden Ring. I have many strong feelings about the game, honestly. If I were to give a ten second overview, I would say it’s flawed, but that it’s very enjoyable if you like this kind of game. It’s definitely worth the sixty bucks, and the DLC is coming out soon (hopefully). If you’re into grim fantasy RKG open world action adventure games, then, yeah, play this.
I say all that because I LOVE this game. I am still playing it. Apparently, accourding to Steam, I have nearly 700 hours on record. I have almost a thou for Dark Souls III for comparision. But I realize that once I get to halfway in the game, my interest flags. I am ready to go into NG++ with my second character except that there is one major boss (considered by many to be the second-hardest boss in the game) I have yet to do. WillI do this boss? I don’t know. I was so worn-out by this point in the game that I did it with two human summons becaause I could not be bothered to do it solo (with my Mimic Tear). Remmeber, I ‘blazed’ through the game in 225+ hour. I was feeling tired and grumpy by the time I reached this point. I could not be fucked to do it by myself.
Do I want to try it now? I don’t know. I’m pretty keen to try NG++ and further. I don’t know if I want to do this one boss. On the other hand, I don’t like that I haven’t done it with just my Mimic Tear. No, I don’t think you need to solo bosses, but I do have some pride, it turns out. I have done most of the bosses solo with my Spirit Summon, which is my base, I guess.
Here’s the thing. My second playthrough was half the time of my first. And I did many things, but not all things because I was just trying to get the second ending. Then, when I went into NG+ to get the third ending, That time, no muss, no fuss. I was just aiming for the end and that took me roughly fifteen hours. Fifteen hours to tear through the game! Funnily enough, I got the vanilla ending on the third try because I could not be bothered to do the side quests (did them after getting the plat). I got Ranni’s ending the first time and the Lord of Frenzied Flame the second time because those are the two endings you have to get in addition to a third vanilla ending to get the plat. I wanted to get Ranni’s first because her questline took me so long and is so elaborate. The Lord of the Frenzied Flame took quite some time, yes, but not as much.
I wanted to make sure I got both of those before moving forward. The third run was easy-breezy because the only thing I needed at that point was to get the vanilla ending. Which meant, bare bones, killing two shardbearers, going to the capital, and racing to the end. And then getting the third ending to pop…and then the Elden Ring achievement, and then the hundo chievo!
This is a great game. I’m sitll playing, and I’m stil loving it for the most part. I will get to the last boss in the next post, which will be a juicy one. See you then.