More Elden Ring, bay-bee! NPC questlines. In the past games, you could miss the whole questline if you missed a step or two. For Elden Ring, however, they made the change so that you can miss a step or five and still do the quest. For example. My beloved Blaidd. I got the dialogue from Kale the nomadic merchant in Church of Elleh about the wolfman in Mistwood. He gave me a gesture to summon the wolfman. I went back to Mistwood and…could not find this guy. Could not. I looked hard and I looked long. He was not to be found.
Fortunately, I was able to join up later in the questline. And I got to experience the beginning part in a following playthrough. I still have not gotten one part of it because it’s pretty intricate. Then, there’s Patches. Ah, Patches. He has been in every From game since Armored Core. There’s an amusing rift in the RKG Discord as to #TeamKillPatches and #TeamLetPatchesLive. I on the latter side, obviously. But there are so many people who kill Patches on sight. It’s funny as fuck to me. I will not kill Patches except to get his gesture or whatever I need for the achievements.
Anyway, you run into him in a cave and after battling him, until he’s halfway dead, he begs for mercy. Then, he becomes a merchant as he always is. And then later on, you can find him in a completely different area–here’s the thing. You can find him all over the map. I did not see him in the half-dozen places you can find him before I saw him in the Volcano Manor.
And, then (massive spoiler, kinda), he dies. But it’s OK because he’s brought back to life in a future patch so you can get, ah, another gesture I think from him when you go back to where you first see him. I think? It’s been a while.
I’ve spoken at length about Ranni’s questline and how I’d pay thirty bucks just for that. Blaidd is part of her questline. It’s immense and goes on forever. There are so many parts to it over so many different areas. And it’s an emotional journey as well as a physical one. The first time I did the questline, it took me roughly 30 hours. I can do it much quicker now, obviously, but still.
There is still one tihng I have not done in the game. It’s giving Seluvis’s potion to either Nepheli or the Dung Eater. Why? Because it makes the person you give it to a puppet, and I refuse to do that. I hate the idea of making someone do things against their will, which is basically what this does. I’ve heard that having Dung Eater as a puppet is very handy because he’s a very strong summon, but I can’t bring myself to do it.
In addition, the questline is so fiddly. The few times I’ve gone back to Seluvis mid-questline, he’s been dead. I’ve never actually had to kill him, so I don’t know when that point is. It’s a shame because his hat is the big hat in this game. I’ve worn it, but have never felt completely comfortable doing so. Big hats are my jam, but he’s such a creep.
Now. I have a few things to say about the narrative of the game. It got nominated for best narrative, which has made some people very mad/sad/upset, apparently. They think it’s a bitter joke because according to them, there is no narrative! This is untrue. There is a narrative. It’s true that you have to go digging for it, but it’s there. In item descriptions and just through traversing in the game. In the video I included, Alanah Pearce said that she thought she was experiencing a narrative by just going through the game. Yong Yea agreed, saying his talking about his experience helped a friend and vice-versa. He called it communal narrative.
It was really with the first game (Dark Souls) that the community came together and pieced together an incredible story together. It’s the same with Elden Ring and the way it stayed in the collective consciousness for so long. People come together and find the story/narrative. And uncovering secrets is such a high. “Holy shit! I did not know that was there.” The sense of wonder and awe persisted as I played the game.
Side note: As I was playing the game for the first time, I saw a panel of peolpe talking about the game. One woman was disparaging of the game (which was fine, of course), saying, “It’s not that amazing to look at. Like, do people really think it’s incredible? I’ve seen it all before.” And that’s when I knew not to take her seriously. There are people who believe fidelity is the most important thing when it comes to graphics. Therefore, if it’s not state-of-the-year, then it’s trash. She seems to have fallen into that group.
I, on the other hand, fall in the camp that art direction is more important than popping in 4K. Elden Ring is fucking stunning. Is it eye-popping? I think so, but I don’t do 4K. More to the point, I don’t care. It’s simply not that important to me. I don’t put my settings on high, and I can’t tell the difference between 4K and HD. Ok, I probably can by now, but it’s not something that is in my top ten of important criteria.
Elden Ring is a game that consumed me. For many, many months. Many. Many. Months. It’s an incredible game. And it’s one I feel oddly protective of. It’s strange. I’m a huge From fan person, but I’ve never felt this attached to a game–not even Dark Souls III, which is my favorite game of all time. I think it’s because it’s the first big game I’ve played since recovering from my medical crisis. It’s the first From game I’ve played with my fresh new eyes. Rationally or not (not), I connect it to my new life. In some ways, it symbolizes a new beginning, even within an old framework.
It’s why I got mad when it seemed that it might nto win GOTY because GoW: Ragnorok was going to come in at the last minute and snatch it away. It was the conventional and restricted (Ragnorok) versus the unconventional and the free (Elden Ring). That’s not true, obviously, as ER is probably the most conventional of the From games. The one that was made to reach as many differing people as possible. It’s their popcorn game (so to speak) that is, ah, fluffy. It’s not, really, but it’s not as ponderous as the rest of their games are. I don’t mean ponderous in a negative way. From games are laborious and grueling. That’s part of the allure. This was the one that gave you the most tools with which to deal with the obstacles.
I looked at the stats for the game (from April. I can’t find any from past that). An astounding 70% of the people who started the game beat Margit. The percentage gets less and less as the game goes on, obviously, but it’s still pretty incredible.
This game is just amazing. I haven’t seriously played it in a month or two, but I have to give it a huge hand for the way it effortlessly broke all expectations. I have not played Ragnorok, but from what I’ve seen of it, it’s not genre-defining or breaking. I’m sure it’s an incredible game, but it’s still a representation of its genre. Also, it’s an exclusive. I honestly think that should be a serious knock on the nomination. Yes, I know Bloodborne was also a PS exclusive, but that didn’t win that year, anyway. I’m suddenly tired, so I’m done for now. I’m sure I’ll talk more about this game later!