Now is the time to talk about Elden Bling. Which I was going to write about in the last post, but then got sidetracked by Millicent. My poor, sweet Millicent. I really need to do the ‘go against’ her bit, but I don’t want to. Just as I refuse to do the puppet thing for Seluvis because even in a game, I cannot make myself brainwash someone. I was going to do it to the Dung Eater, but then I was not able to becasue of the change to the capital city. I’ll try to make sure to do it in my current run, but only to the Dung Eater. I will never ever do anything bad to Nepheli. I know it’s just a game, but that matters not to my heart.
Back to Elden Bling. It’s long been a joke about doing Fashion Souls. Cosplaying as your favorite character. I always wear the Sage’s Big Hat in DS III along with the Dark Witch Set. I did wear the Preceptor’s Big Hat in Elden Ring for some time, but it’s Seluvis’s hat–and he’s the asshole who makes people into puppets. Also, it has lines on it like it’s the cosmos or something, which I don’t like. But it is a big hat.
I will say, right now, I’m running around with my second character in Blaidd’s armor plus the preceptor’s gauntlets and pants. I have been wearing the Twinsage Gintstone Crown, but I switched to the wolf head in order to finish Ranni’s questline. This is in NG+ with my second character.
My absolute favorite armor set, however, is Hoslow’s set. The helm has twin silver tails and is flashy as hell. I adore it. The whole outfit is amazing and not too heavy. Getting it, however, was a massive pain in the ass.
Yes, I’m going to explain another questline. This one is elaborate as well. All of them are ridiculous. You have to get to Volcano Manor, which is difficult in and of itself. I’m not going to recount how to get there because there are so many ways and quite frankly, I’m not really sure how to get there except the way I do it. Which is mainly by accident.
Once you get there, though, it becomes clear that you have to do a bunch of invasions on their behalf. It’s a legacy dungeon, too, but that’s the main gist of this manor. I hate invading. I hate it with a passion. There’s another time when you have to do it three times to get something, but you don’t have to win in that case. In this case, you do. You get my favorite talisman this way, though. The Crepus’s Vial. It eliminates all sound. It’s fucking fantastic when coupled with Unseen Form (spell)–much like Hidden Body/Slumbering Dragoncrest Ring.
These invasions aren’t easy, though, and Juno Hoslow, Knight of Blood, is the hardest of all. He’s also the last invasion. I could not get him for the life of me (in a large part because of my tiny life bar). He has a whip that stuns and takes off huge chunks of health. I was infuriated by him.
Funnily enough, the second time, he was so much easier. i mean, I know it’s partly beacuse I already knew his moves, but it was also…I found a way to cheese him (by Googling).
He’s the brother of Diallos, an NPC you meet really early on. Diallos shows up in the Volcano Manor, talking about revenge and family honor. I’m sure there is a connection between that and why Juno is one of the people you need to invade, but I don’t know for sure. I’ll need to check out Vaati’s videos to see if he has anything to say about it.
This questline was so difficult for me because I do not do PvP. I’m really bad at it, and it’s just frustrating to me. I’m pretty sure they made it easier than it would normally be. I mean, humna beings are much harder to fight in general than NPCs because humans are unpredictable and not programmed. But it’s still difficult for me because my reflexes are shit. I’ve talked about this at length. Even before my medical crisis, my reflexes sucked. Afterwards, they got even worse. I am very blessed to still be alive and mostly intact. I am better than I’ve ever been in many ways. I would say that this version of me is so much better. But, that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been any damage. My short term memory is nowhere near as good as it used to be. Weirdly, I’m fine with that. I used to pride myself on my impeccable memory, but now, if I forget something, oh well. I just jokingly blame it on my brain damage.
I’m joking, but I’m serious, too. It IS my brain damage. I was without oxygen for some minutes. We don’t know how many because I was unconscious when the cops found me, but it’s safe to say probably at least three (that’s when brain damage starts).
I don’t mind people knowing this about me, but I don’t go out of my way to prcolaim it, either. It’s become the norm for me, and I forget how it sounds from the outside. Right now, I mostly describe it as a medical crisis. I might add that I wasn’t expected to survive, but I rarely go into the details beacuse it…this is going to sound weird, I feel like it’s almost bragging. Or in the other direction, is dismissive. “Yeah, I suffered from non-COVID-related walking pneumonia, two cardiac arrests, and an ischemic stroke.” Every time I write it out or say it out loud, I feel a flash of…not shame, but, ah, discomfort? No, that’s not it, either. I just don’t want it to seem as if I’m throwing it out there for no reason.
The thing is, though, that who I am now is so deeply entwined with what happened to me, I can’t separate the two. If you want to know who I am, you have to know what happened to me. The only other thing that has as much impact on my life is Taiji. If you know those two things about me, then you know everything. Well, not everything, but a lot.
How the hell…oh, right. My reactions. They suck. That’s why I hate invasions. I’m just trying to play my game. Don’t come into my game like that! I’m so glad in Elden Ring, if you don’t use the finger to initiate multi play, you can’t be invaded.
In the RKG Discord, there is a healthy debate about invasions. There is one woman who is currently playing DS III and getting frustrated at being invaded. Other people are telling her it’s part of the game and fair play. Well, yes, it is, but that doesn’t make it fun or enjoyable for some of us. I told her I played offline for most of the time until I wanted to fight a boss specifically so I didn’t have to deal with invaders. If I did get invaded, I jumped off the nearest cliff so they wouldn’t have the satisfaction of killing me.
I hate invaders. I don’t care that it’s part of the game. Ian said that it gave a sense of danger to everything. I retorted that just playing the game did that. I still remember in Dark Souls III, in the second DLC, beating the first boss was so difficult. I hated it. Every minute. Then, I was transported to another area–in which I was immediately invaded and killed. This was like the third day the DLC had been released, and someone was already camping as an invader.
That was when I decided to play offline until I needed to summon for a boss. Idid not need that aggro. That’s how I still play the Souls games, by the way. I play the entire thing offline until I need to summon for a boss and then I go online.
Back to Juno Hoslow and being the invader. I did not have any more fun as the invader, but it was easier. I will grant you that. And when I killed Juno Hoslow, I got his sweet armor and his whip. Which is dope, but I don’t do whips. I wore his armor on my first character for the rest of the game, basically.
I will say that I don’t usually wear a set. I oftentimes wear whatever is best against whomever I was fighting. It’s often piecemeal beacuse I don’t have that much ability to wear much. I don’t put many points in endurance, which is what governs equip load. There are talismans that allow you to bear a heavier equip load, but I don’t bother with that much, either.
Running long yet again. Will probably write more in the next post.