By the time you read this, I will have Elden Ring (FromSoft, natch) pre-loaded and counting down the hours until I can play it. As I’m writing this, it is snowing; my desktop work station is set up; and my body is ready for Elden Ring.
Side Note: The gaming (mechanical) keyboard I got for that set-up is (carefully covers laptop mechanical keyboard so as to not hurt its feelings) fucking amazing. I was worried about the softness of the keys because of the description, but they are very clicky. And, I love how the letters change from red to green when you click the keys, even though that has no utility. It’s just a neat touch. I set up my Logitech wireless gaming mouse (it’s been so long since I’ve used my desktop, I still had a wired mouse) and everything is just beautiful.
I know I wrote a whole post about this, but it’s amazing what you get used to and how quickly. I resisted mechanical keyboards for so long and I’m not even really sure why any longer. Probably the cost. But cost per time of usage is pound for pound the same or better than the cheap-o computers and feel much better than the latter.
There was a Red Bull Elden Ring stream this past weekend. I wasn’t going to watch because of spoilers, but I eventually gave in. The incandescent Aoife Wilson from Eurogamer was the host, which was rad. They had four streamers taking on a role each, which was…mostly cool. I didn’t appreciate that there were no women. I mean, seriously? Not even one? No? Well, ok, then. No Asian person? Cool, cool (NOT cool). Each of the dudes took on one role. I, of course, was interested in the Confessor as that seems right up my alley. It’s a mixture between strength and casting, which, hello! *Waves madly* I was definitely leaning towards the Confessor as my starting class.
Then, I learned that the Confessor comes with two incantations. One is Urgent Heal–which is always welcomed. A heal spell, I mean. I usually buy one as soon as I can in DS III and use it for the early game because I want to have more than zero Ashen Estus Flask. It’s a way to save Estus Flasks for the big guns and it’s nice to have it in my back pocket.
Still. It wouldn’t have swayed me one way or the other by itself. It’s a nice-to-have, but not a must. Then, I read about the other incantation and that’s what sold me. It’s the Assassin’s Approach and it’s basically the Spook spell from the Souls series. It muffles your footsteps and lessens fall damage. It’s pretty neat, but I rarely used it because I didn’t want to waste an attunement slot and because I got the Slumbering Dragoncrest Ring as soon as possible–which did the same thing (as far as muffling footsteps) and did not need to be constantly reapplied.
That did it for me. I was already into the Confessor. It was between that class and the Astrologer because I’m a Pyro. Er, in games, not in real life. I mean, I do like fire in real life, but I don’t play with it. Much. Anyway! In games, I love fire. I will choose anything that allows me to use fire whenever I can.
I will tell you, when the classes for Elden Ring were slowly dropped (they were not revealed at once–they were released two at a time), plus they were different in the Closed Network Test (CNT), my heart dropped as well. There was no Pyro, which was a worry for me. In fact, there was very little talk about any Pyro spells–which really had me worried. You could not start Dark Souls II as a Pyro, which is one massive negative about the game.
I love fire. I love it so much. When it was revealed that Elden Ring did not have a dedicated Pyro class, well, I was nervous. I heard it explained that because it’s not about lighting the fire/keeping the flames lit, there was no reason to have a class just for fire users. Yeah, ok, but it’s fire. FIRE! Who the hell doesn’t want to play with fire?? You really gonna do my elemental fire like that? Yes, I know there’s going to be lightning/electricity, magicks, and other cool spells–but fire is my jam. It’s always been my jam. It will always be my jam. So, yeah, I was nervous and upset when I realized there was no Pyro class in Elden Ring.
Then, I saw a trailer with some fire in it. And there were some really cool fire spells in the Closed Network Test. Er, incantations–which is the new miracles. The prominent one was an arm with a dragon head at the end that spewed fire. Spewed fire! It looks amazing and it reassured me that Pyromancy isn’t completely gone in this game.
Side Note II: As I write this, I have a half hour to wait until I can pre-load the game. Yes, because I’m playing on PC, I can pre-load it two days ahead of time. Which, yes, cool, but then it’s just going to be sitting in my Steam manager, taunting me because I can see it but not play it. Then I have to wait two whole days until I can actually play it. In the meantime, the embargo will lift and there will be the flood of reviews that will make me have to do the dance of ‘do I read/watch them or nah’ that I have been doing for the past few months.
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It’s been so long. There was a teaser trailer at E3 (or at least around that time) in 2019. Then, the pandemic happen and radio silence from FromSoft. Nothing, nothing, nothing for all of 2020. Many friends lost hope that the game was ever coming out. There was a thread on Reddit of fans making up areas and all the things that filled those areas (enemies, flora, fauna, bosses, etc.), which was actually quite sweet. I dipped in a few times, but never really got into it. In part because I just couldn’t think about Elden Ring–it hurt too much.
Side Note III: I don’t get hyped for much of anything. I’m not a brand-loyal person because I use something only as long as it’s the best at what it does. There are a few brands I do like in general, one of them being Logitech. They have really good mid-tier computer accessories, including mice. I always have Logitech mice and I will keep doing so until the quality of their product slips. Which is my MO with any product, really. I use something that works well until it doesn’t.
I’m the same way with entertainment, really. There is very little that I’m a ‘fan’ of in the sense that I will watch/listen/read anything they produce without thought. Actually, there are more than a few authors in which this is the case. However, when it comes to visual media, there is nothing. I’m sorry. I know it’s a weird thing to say, but I don’t like movies or TV. I have tried . Lord knows I have tried. In general, however, it’s a no-go for me. At some point, I gave up.
It’s like alcohol. I didn’t drink at all as a teen. When I went to college, there was so much drinking. SO. MUCH. DRINKING. I went to a Lutheran school with a purportedly dry campus so that’s why. I didn’t get the appeal, especially since I am allergic to alcohol (it’s an Asian thing) and it didn’t taste good to me. Not beer, anyway. Which was what most people drank. Someone at some point told me that you just had to find the right beer. I tried several, but they all tasted like I would think piss would taste. I finally found one that I could tolerate–Bud Light. When I told someone, they laughed incredulously and told me that it was just water with hops waved over it. I retorted that that was why it was tolerable to me–because it didn’t taste like alcohol. I gave up on beer about a decade later, sticking to gin and tonics, amaretto sours, and rum and diet coke when I did drink. I still didn’t love it, but I could hack it. Then, when I turned forty, I went out with a few friends and got some ice cream drink (before I gave up dairy). I drank it and it was delicious. But I thought to myself, “You know what would really make this taste better? If there was no alcohol in it.” That’s when I realized that I was a grown-ass adult! I did not have to drink if I didn’t want to! That was a great decision and I haven’t looked back since.
I felt the same once I gave up on movies and TV shows. I just don’t get anything out of them. In general. There are exceptions, but they are few and far between. It’s not something I consciously decided to do, but I just…never got excited about any new movie or TV show. I’d see a trailer and immediately start thinking about all the things wrong from a psychological standpoint. Or the fact that there’s no diversity. Or the ridiculous plot lines, even in trailers. As I’ve said, musicals are exempt from the ‘must be like reality’, but other movies are not. I gave up because it was so frustrating to watch movies with hopes that they would be good. They rarely are. And it’s not as if I could turn off my brain and accept the inconsistencies and implausibility I saw in the movies. I have more to say about that, but I’ll leave it here for now.
Back to Elden Ring. It’s pre-loaded and ready to go. Now, I have a little less than two days to wait. After waiting for so long and losing faith that it was ever going to happen, it’s hard to believe that it’s actually going to happen. I can’t fucking wait.