In yesterday’s post, I went off on a tangent about NG++. Why? Because that’s the way my brain works. I don’t stay on any one paith for much longer than necessary. In my youth, I loved a footnote and/or a side note. I used to find it amusing to have as many footnotes in a post as possible. Once in a while, I would even have a footnote to a footnote.
Anyway, I’m cruising through NG++ like it was no big thing. I have died once, and that was to a fall on Torrent. He is the best boi, for sure, but goddamn doing platforming on him is impossible. It’s so imprecise and there is no coming back if you’re about to go off a cliff. Do I count that? No, I do not.
I did *SPOILERS* Margit easily. Me and Mini-Me. Then it was onto Godrick the Grafted. I have never done them solo because…I don’t actually know why. Well, I do. I love Nepheli Loux. I love her a lot. So I want her by my side. Anyway, I decided to do it with just Mini-Me, and it was a blood bath–for him. I melted him and moved on. I had done a bunch before meeting him, something that took me probably fifteen to twenty hours in my first playthrough. I think it took me roughly an three or four hours this time. Maybe five. About a fourth of the time it took me the first time. Which is understandable because I’ve done this bit six times now.
I’m not trying to zip through at high speed, but I’m not trying to dally, either. My goal is to just see how easy I find it and it’s been no sweat so far. That doesn’t mean it won’t be at some point. I’m mostly not summoning, but I’m not holding myself to that, either. It’s been chill so far, and I don’t anticipate it being much harder for at least the next area.
So. The final area of the game. Leyndell, Ashen Capital. I do understand that it’s thematically correct to have the capital as two areas in the game. One pre-Erdtree-burning and one afterwards. But there’s still a hollow feeling in my breast that it’s the final area. Especially as there is nothing else in it except the final bosses. Well, you can access the Slumbering Shunning-Grounds through a hole in the ground, but that’s it. After Gideon, then you have to fight Godfrey/Hoarah loux. They are two separate bosses, though they share the same health bar. Godfrey is much like his golden shade whom you fought earlier when you first got into this area–the first time around. He wasn’t a big deal then, but I expected him to be a big deal now. He was the second-to-the-last boss! I expected him to be HARD.
And…maybe he was? I have watched videos of people fighting him repeatedly. I will say this. He seems to be much harder for melee players because he is one himself. In the first half of the fight, he uses his axe to great effect. In the second half, though, he kills the ghost lion, Serosh, on his back in order to get his full strength back. Then he goes full warrior, which is pretty much a WWE wrestler.
That’s right. He starts fighting you with his bare hands as he’s nearly buck nekkid. There is something draped around his midriff to preserve his modesty, but his powerful thighs bulge out of it. There’s a cut scene in which he kill Serosh and then reveals his true self. Hoarah Loux, Chieftain of the Badlands.
Here’s my hot take on the DLC. I know that most people think it’s going to be about Miquella and Malenia, and I agree that would be cool as hell. Or learn more about the beforetimes, which seems to be the way the DLC is leaning. I would love to be on Malenia’s side or Radahn’s side in the great war. Of course, lots of people would like to know more about Ranni and Blaidd.
But, and this is the hot take–and it’s- related to this post!–I would love to know more about Hoarah Loux, Chieftain of the Badlands. NOT Godfrey, the First Elden Lord, but his warrior self that he was before Queen Marika made him her consort. Godfrey is boring. There. I said it. I don’t care about him. But Hoarah Loux? I have plenty of time for him. Maybe that says something about my taste in men, but he truly was more interesting as Hoarah Loux than as Godfrey.
In addition, my favorite NPC of the game is Nepheli Loux, who is a descendant of Hoarah Loux. She has the right lineage to become the Champion of Limgrave (as deigned by Kenneth Haight), and she goes through some major shit in the game. As do most of the NPCs. By the way, there are two adopted fathers in this game, and both of them are absolute shit.
You know, I would be happy if the DLC were about Nepheli Loux, but it won’t be. She’s a bit player, even though she is my favorite NPC. Again, I could see it maybe including something about Hoarah Loux/Godfrey, but not her. She got a nice ending in the main game itself, but it wasn’t satisfying enough to me. I wanted her to confront her adoptive father and slay him–I wonder if you can summon her to help you fight Gideon.
You cannot. But you can apparently summon her against the Omenkiller (makes sense, but I have not seen her sign there) and against Godfrey. Which, holy hell. If that’s the case, yes, please.
By the way, for whatever reason, I had a really hard time summoning for this boss on my second and third playthroughs. Not getting the summons– I had no problem with that. But in getting them to stick around for the second half of the fight. I hate that so much. It’s so mean! Fortunately, crafting the furlcalling finger remedy is no problem, but I hate wasting that time in calling in someone, fighting half the fight, and then being left with a boss that has two to three times the HP and the damage.
The cynical side of me thinks they’re just being dicks. The more compassionate side of me says that maybe they ran out of potions and didn’t think they could last the second half. Or they were just practicing the first. Or they were only good at the first. But, honeestly, I would still rather have them there as meat shields then have them peace out.
My internet is choppy. I’m done for now. Will be back tomorrow with the final boss. Probably.