Yesterday was a rough day, Elden Ring-wise, I mean. I had two or three areas I was exploring that did not like me. At all. In one, there was a really tough field boss (I mentioned her before, the one who’s similar to one in DS III), who could one-s-shot me with her magic arrow spell. Does that mean I’m not supposed to be there? I’m not sure because all the NPC invaders are really tough. This one is just super-hard and has loads of summoned undead sorcerers to help her. I can’t use my spirit summon, either, which sucks.
I tried to fight her melee. I tried to fight her with magicks. I tried a combination. I tried ignoring her minions. I tried taking them out first. Nothing worked. Ironically, my best attempt was my first or second (yesterday) in which I got her down to about a fourth health–I haven’t gotten even close since. Yes, I can run by her and have, but I really want her spell–the arrow thing she does. Or wait, it’s probably the showering rain thing she also does given the name (yes, I looked up how to beat her).
I also made it to an area that is crawling, literally, with really creepy hands. They can one-shot me as well. I tried to race around the area just to see if I can get by them, but they kill me with such ease. Am I not ready to be there? Who can say? Hardcore Souls fans say it’s easy to tell when something is clearly meant to be played later because things are one-shotting you–but again, these are games that are notorious for being difficult. It’s hard to discern between hard, but fair and too hard for you n00b git gud lol.
Then I decided to go back to the first legacy dungeon because I had to not be under-leveled for that. And I got my ass kicked many times. Not as many times as when I was in other areas, though. But still, there was a shoe imprint in my buttocks that isn’t coming out any time soon. I made my way through the gauntlet at the end, saw the golden mist ahead of me, and looked around frantically for a bonfire, er Site of Grace. Just as I saw it to my right, one of the three sword raptors slit my throat. Or maybe it was the giant smashing me to bits? I can’t remember. Perhaps one of the soldiers burned me to death. Anyway, it was one of them and I could not activate the bonfire. Which meant I had to do the run again. And it was going to be a run because I was not going to be stuffed fighting each enemy only to die before reaching the bonfire.
I’ve talked before about enemy placement and how it’s a delicate balance. I understand that facing a mob gets the blood pumping and is a high when you beat them. However, there can’t be so many enemies that the player gives up. In this section, there was an area in which there was roughly six or seven enemies behind ballistae that shot fire. Plus, there were stray enemies just roaming around with crossbows. Once I picked my way past them, there was a dog and a big dude who did lots of damage. Past them was a Site of Grace. That was tiresome enough. In the next area, there were two or three raptors with swords on their talons, two regular enemies with torches, and a giant. This was the area in which I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off because those damn raptors are so dangerous. It’s disheartening to feel like I have no recourse other than to run through a swathe of enemies because there are so many/they’re so lethal.
I think part of the problem is that you’re allowed to use spirit summons in some of these areas, so they are souped up. I don’t always remember to summon, which means me battering my head against a wall. In addition, there are certain enemies that are really fucking hard. Yes, you can run from them in the open world with little problem, but in the legacy dungeon, you don’t have as much room to maneuver or Torrent to ride.
It’s jarring to jump between the open world and legacy dungeon. The former is so expansive as I gallop from area to area. I can fight–or not–at my own discretion. If I’m frustrated in an area, then I can go to another. I can try out a new area, too. My issue with that, though, is when I’m clearly under-leveled, I can’t really stop to absorb the environment.
I tried the boss yesterday, the one in the legacy dungeon. I knew what I was going to be facing because he’s in some of the trailers and I’ve seen glimpses of him here and there from streamers and such. I have to say I had been putting it off because I knew he was going to be hard. That’s a silly thing to say because of course he is–it’s a From game. But, I wasn’t ready for it–not after having my ass consistently kicked for hours as I traversed the open world.
Side Note: One of the things I was worried about before the game came out was the open world aspect. I’m not good with having too many choices because it overwhelms me. In addition, I feel like I’m not finishing anything–which isn’t a problem in the short run, but it does make me feel unaccomplished after a four-hour session.
It’s not the game’s fault–it’s how my brain works. That’s one reason I decided to push forward in the first legacy dungeon–so I could put t in the finished column. To that end, I tried out the final boss. Even though there are two doors in the castle that I hadn’t found a way to open yet. I got the boss down by a third of his health the first time I faced him, using my spirit wolves to help me out.
The second time, I decided to summon the NPC to help me so I could check out the second phase of the fight. She’s a dual-wielding warrior and quite tanky. As far as I can tell, I don’t have to use any resources to summon her. On our third or fourth try, we got the boss down to roughly a third of his life. He’s tough, but he’s not as tough as I expected him to be. My question is whether I want to keep summoning to fight him or do it myself with my wolves.
When I woke up from my coma, my anticipation for Elden Ring completely changed. Before my medical trauma, I had this grand plan of having two characters, one to go solo and one to co-op. I was going to make the solo one do everything without help because that’s how I do From games. Once I woke up from my coma, I was just grateful that I would get to play the game in less than six months.
I call my life post-medical trauma my bonus days and I was just grateful to be able to spend any portion of them playing Elden Ring.