Underneath my yellow skin

Tag Archives: Elden Ring

I lied. More on why SotE is my GOTY, part five

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I have more to say on Shadow of the Erdtree (FromSoft). Yes, I said that yesterday’s post would be the last, but it’s not. Why? Because I started watching RKG’s Retry Dark Souls II/Scholar of the First Sin (the first series they did after starting their own company), which led to me starting my own playthrough. I chose the same starting class they did (knight), and I vowed to follow their path. Which I have, but I quickly remembered that I simply cannot play the game without a ranged option. Yes, they added a bow, but, ah, let’s just say Rory and bows do not get along.

Side note: It’s incredhible that people are still playing this game. When I got to the second bonfire in the Forest of Fallen Giants, there were so many summoning signs! Also, I forgot that you can’t play offline (without a lot of fuss) with this game. Anyway, I summoned Kanye West for

*SPOILERS*

The Last Giant, and that was a lot of fun. Later, I summoned someone for The Pursuer, and I was able to use the ballistas to make quick work of The Pursuer (my summon knew to jump out of the way). Then, in Heide’s Tower of Flame, I summoned a human to do the Old Dragonslayer (I had already killed the dragon along the way), and they died three times before even reaching the boss. I kept running back to summon them without resting first, so by the time we got to the boss, they had all their stuff. They were a sorceror.

This game is pretty generous with NPC summons for boss fights, which is nice, but it’s even nicer to be able to summon humans. More fun, too! I love that there are still people dedicated to this game as with all the other From games.

Back to Elden Ring in general and Shadow of the Erdtree in particular. There were complaints about Elden Ring (and Dark Souls III before it) not being innovative enough. I’m not going to get into that because I’ve written about it before, but my belief is that they were endlessly tweaking their formula and in some games, the tweaks were significant, but not game-changing. Yes, in Bloodborne and Sekiro, they completely changed the combat (notably, my two least-favorite From games), but in Dark Souls II, Dark Souls III, and Elden Ring, it was more about polishing and adding things that made life significantly better to an already-existing formula.

It’s tinkering with the engine rather than adding spinning rims. It’s nowhere near as flashy, but it’s much needed.

I have often thought that the more popular FromSoft gets, the less credit they get for what they do. It’s become expected that they will do amazing things. So much so, many people don’t even bat an eye any longer. Or they think that From should be doing more.


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Last post appreciating Shadow of the Erdtree, part four

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I haven’t played Shadow of the Erdtree (FromSoft, Elden Ring DLC) in a hot sec, so it’s been great to be able to revisit it. The more I write about it, the more I remember how truly breathtaking it was. Watching Krupa (of RKG) go through it in Lore Masterclass (additional show to their Elden Ring Retry series) makes me want to get back to it. Even though–I’ll get to that later. And, of course,

*SPOILERS*

I think we take for granted somewhat how consistently excellent FromSoft is. I’m not calling out anyone because that’s just the way it goes. It’s human nature to become used to whatever the current situation is.

Side note: This is what happened with my medical crisis, for example. It was so shocking and it was such a miracle that I survived, and I thought about it every day for a year. Every fucking day. It was that big a deal, and I think I can be excused for thinking that. Then, slowly, over time, it became less and less of a big deal. And this is fine! It should be that way because it’s not good for the brain to go around thinking that any one event is A Big Deal all the time. It’s still something that is important to me, obviously, because I would not be here if I had died permanently. But, and I don’t know how to put this delicately, there’s no way to feel it every minute of the day. I’m still going to be angry, upset, or pissed off. Hell, I’m going to be bored or even just waste hours playing Balatro (LocalThunk). Ahem.

Side note redux: I think I’m going to quit Balatro. I just can’t quit playing it, and it’s detrimental to–well, my life. Plus, I’m in the grinding time in which I have to play tons of meaningless games in order to unlock two legendary jokers I don’t yet have. There is only one way to get them, and that’s to open packs of cards. Arcana packs or Spectral packs. At least that’s what the internet has deemed to be the one true way, and there is not a consensus about it.

Here is the deal. You need The Soul card in order to get a Legendary Joker. I did not know this as I was originally playing, and I came across three The Souls cards naturally. Just because it was so different (and immediately special), I chose it. I got three different Legendary Jokers, and now I can’t find the other two for love nor money. I have come across The Soul two or three more times, but it’s only had a dupe.

I looked up for the quickest way to get the Legendary Jokers, and it’s tedious farming. Basically opening up pack upon pack upo,n pack in the vain hope of hitting the .3% chance of getting The Soul. It makes it more irritating when I get a dupe, obviously.

This is not fun. I hate playing the game this way. I don’t have to get these jokers, obviously, but they are suposed to be really good. There’s also one other joker I have not unlocked. It’s a Rare Joker, and you have to get 100,000,000 chips in one hand to unlock it. The only way to do  that is to use the Plasma Deck (for reasons I’m not going to get into here). I haven’t been able to do that, either, because I’m shaky on making the most of that deck.

I’m not as annoyed by that, however, because at least you can math it (if you can math properly). With the Legendary Jokers, it’s all a matter of luck. It’s enraging, honestly, and it’s sucked the fun out of the game for me. As well as having to do the increasingly more difficult stakes with the different decks.


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Why SotE is my GOTY, part three

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In yesterday’s post, I talked about what I liked about Shadow of the Erdtree (Elden Ring DLC, FromSoft, my GOTY), and one thing that I really didn’t like. The latter was how easy it was to fuck up the NPC questlines, which was somewhat my fault, but also the fault of the strength of the game, too. The intricacy of the level design. It spins me around, which is great for grandeur and epicness, buut not great for my sense of direction.

Since I want to talke about the whole DLC, there will be

*SPOILERS*

When I reached Shadow Keep, I was already turned around and disoriented. Because of the ladder I mentioned in the last post, I approached from the back. This is not especially hidden, and I’m sure thatt many people went in the back way.

Shadow Keep is both amazing and frustrating as fuck. The two entrances lead to different floors, though you can get to one of the floors you reach from the front by jumping down to it from one of the floors you reach from the back. This legacy dungeon is so labyrinthian, I was constantly turned around. This is where two of the NPCs are, and I completely missed one of them (Ansbach) in his hidey hole. I found the other one, Redmane Freyja, near the Site of Grace on the seventh floor. She was trying to puzzle something out and said she should talk to Sir Ansbach.

This is where I fucked up. What you’re supposed to do is go back to Ansbach and tell him what Freyja had said. He’ll give you a letter to give to her, but the wikis warn not to give Ansbach the Secret Rite Scroll you find in the keep BEFORE getting the letter to give to Freyja because it might block the progress in her questline. If you do things in the wrong order, you won’t be able to give her the letter–and she just stays stuck in the same place for the rest of the game. You can get her shit at the end of the game, but you can’t finish her questline.

The NPC questlines are off the charts difficult to follow in the DLC. I mean, they’re never easy to follow, but From definitely kicked it up a notch for this DLC. The only NPC questline I did right was Igon’s, and that’s because it’s ok to miss one step in his questline AND he’s literally on the road where you’re going. You can’t miss him the first time, and I will admit that I looked up where to find him later on.


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Shadow of the Erdtree is worthy, part two

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Yesterday, I revealed my actual Game of the Year, and I’m sure it was a huge surprise to exactly no one. Most of the time, I have to make up a game of the year award that I can bestow upon FromSoft because it’s not as if they have a game releasing every year. This year, however, is one of the blessed years in which they released a new game. Well, at least a new DLC. I will admit that it feels like a lifetime ago, but it was definitely released within this year.

I shan’t go into why this year was so difficult for me because I did it in the last post. Suffice to say, I’m ready to throw 2024 away and not think about it any further.

There was such a big brouhaha about Shadow of the Erdtrree being nominated for Game of the Year. It’s funny. Now that FromSoft has entered the mainstream (somewhat), people are beginning to turn on them. It’s the weird thing when an indie band gets popular, then half of their hardcore fans don’t like them any longer. Or accuse them of selling out. That happened to Liz Phair when she released an album that she admitted was meant to be more popular than her previous works. Oh, the gnashing of the teeth by her older fans! Oh, the calls of ‘sellout’. I never got it because that old stuff was still there, and you could still enjoy it. Also, if more people bought her new album and listened to her older stuff, they might like that as well. And even if you didn’t like her new album, why would you be against her trying something different?

This was actually one of the issues with the second Dark Souls game. There were way too many expectations for it, and some of them were diametrically opposite. People wanted it to be like the first game, and yet, they wanted it to iterate as well. They did not like the things that were different–like losing health every time you died until you had half-health. There were ways to mitigate it, but it was pretty brutal in the beginning of the game.

And yet. That was similar to Demon’s Souls, which many people didn’t realize. You only had half-health when you were in soul form, but it was better for world tendency (never mind). This meant that people would jump off a high point in the Nexus after beating a boss and ending up in body form. There was a ring that mitigated that, which you could find in the first area. If you wore the ring, then you were able to have three-quarters health. There was a similar ring in Dark Souls II, so it was clearly a nod to Demon’s Souls.


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My actual game of the year for 2024

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Alright. I have been dilly-dallying long enough. I have stretched out my games of the year in my usual fashion. Yesterday, I talked about two indie games that are on my top five non-From games of all time list, and today, I am finally going to announce my game of the year. As if I need to. I’ll do it, anyway, just in case it needs to be said.

My game of the year (GOTY) for 2024 beyond a shadow of a doubt despite the controversy it stirred up for even being nominated

Shadow of the Erdtree (Elden Ring, DLC, FromSoft)

Man. It’s been quite the year. It flew by, and yet, at the same time, it’s dragged out because of a personal tragedy. When the Shadow of the Erdtree trailer was surprise-released back on February 21st, my personal tragedy started. I was not able to really participate in the joyous celebration on that day or the next, when the real tragedy struck.

By the time the DLC rolled around four months later, I was ready to play it. I was still in pain and sorrow because of what happened four months earlier. I can’t think about that time without tearing up, still, nearly a year later. Even while I was rejoicing about a new Miyazaki world in which to roam, a part of my heart was still quietly breaking. The fact that the name of the DLC included the name of my beloved who is no longer with me made it even more bittersweet.

Before my medical crisis, I had so many plans for Elden Ring. I saw the first real trailer for it at GeoffCon in summer of 2021, and I lost my shit. Another Miyazaki world in which I could wander  endlessly? Yes, please! I had all these grandiose ideas about what I would do in the game. I would have one solo play chaarcter and another for co-op. I was going to get the plat, of course, because apparently, that ws a thing with me now (except Sekiro. Ain’t no way in hell that’s happening).

Then, the medical crisis happened, and all that was wiped from my brain. Once it was established that I was fine, more or less, after what happened to me, all I cared about was that I had another Miyazaki game to play. Any ideas of soloing or playing in a certain way was wiped from my brain. None of that mattered, and it seemed silly that it ever had. I even wrote an article about it for a gaming website, and it really crystalized for me what the From games meant to me.


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Leading up to my GOTY 2024 award

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I’m back for my (probably) last post about my game of the year (GOTY). I say probably because we all know I have the tendency to go off the rails. I have every intention of making this the last post, but who knows what I might think of along the way?

Here’s an interesting thing about my memory since my medical crisis. It’s completely gone. Well, not completely, but it’s a fraction of what it used to be. Before my medical crisis, I had an excellent memory. Now, it’s completely gone. Or rather, it’s very spotty. When I first got out of the hospital, I had such a hard time with names. Granted, I was high as a kite so that probably had more to do with it.

Now, I can remember names. But dates? No. Things that were planned? No. Before my medical crisis, I had no issues remembering which days I had Taiji private lessons, for example. Now, if I’m doing something engrossing before the time, I have to put a sticky on my monitor to remind me. I’ll be real. It’s just if I’m playing a game at the time, and it’s only fairly recently. I have a hunch it’s more to do with me not bothering to remember than me actually forgetting.

I took a quick look at my Steam library, and there are a few games that I had fun with, but nothing really memorable. Many of them are based around cat restaurants, which was a big theme for me this year.

I will say that as is my wont, I mostly play three or four big (big meaning games that truly engross me) games and a half-dozen smaller ones intermittently. I have a few cozy games I play late at night when I just want to relax and unwind.

Here’s the way I do my GOTY. As everyone knows, I am a huge FromSoft fan. Basically, I split things up between From games and non-From games. The latter includes mostly indie games, mostly cozy games, and mostly quirky games that others may or may not have heard of. I have my list of top FromSoft games of all time and a list of my top five favorite non-FromSoft games.

A quick recap of my lists.

My favorite FromSoft games of all time

6. Sekiro
5. Bloodborne
4. Dark Souls
3. Dark Souls II

We need to talk here. I have gotten so much shit ovre this part of my list because I place Sekiro at the bottom. No matter how many carefully I phrase it, people get mad. Most people think either Sekiro and/or Bloodborne is the best FromSoft game with Dark Souls (OG) in the mix as well.


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Let’s ttalk some more about open world games

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black Sakai armor set with antlers on the helmet
This definitely makes a statement

I want to talk more about open world games design just because I can. In my last post, I was talking about what made me lose interest in an open world game. And I was comparing Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch Productions) with Elden Ring (FromSoft). I have to give props to Sucker Punch for one small thing–as you upgrade an armor set, each piece gets refined. So by the end, you look very different than you did in the beginning. The picture I included in yesterday’s post is the final form of that armor set. The picture at the beginning of this postt is the Sakai family set, but after it’s been upgraded twice, I believe.

This is a little touch that really brightens my day. I also appreciate that the different armor sets offer different perks. Such as, the one in the picture above gives you one more chance at an automatic kill in the standoffs. What I mean is that when you do a standoff, if you time it right, you automatically kill the enemy. I have unlocked the perks that give me two added enemies who offer themselves up for an insta-kill (though you still have to time it right). Or maybe three? At any rate, I can insta-kill five enemies in a row, which is great!

FromSoft, on the other hand, has a very different approach to the leveling up part of RPG. In all the games except Sekiro, you just simply put points into roughly a half-dozen stats, depending on what you want to focus on. The names of the stats change in each game (annoyingly so), but they are basically the same. Health, stamina/equip load (though that can be separated out at times), magicks power, strength, dex, int., faith, and then one other random one like arcane. There are no skill trees at all. Yes, you can upgrade your armor and weapons in some of the games and all of the games respectively (except Sekiro, which was its own thing), but that’s pretty basic. Oh, and I’m including the trailer for Elden Ring: Nightreign below just because I can.

I like leveling up my character and choosing what I want to put points into. Weirdly, this is something Sekiro had that the other From games didn’t. Maybe there’s something about being a samurai/shinobi/ninja that inspires skill trees. Probably because the playstyles are so different.

I don’t mind that FromSoft games don’t have skill trees. Probably because they’ve never had them so it would seem weird if they start putting them in. Heres’ the thing about From games. Dark Souls was the first hard-as-nails hardcore game I played (and like the fourth not-casual game I’d played in general), so their button scheme is the only one I’m comfortable with.


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More on open world game design

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samurai in all black ronin armor (and straw hat)
My fit is (black) fire!

I want to ttalk more about open world game design. So, not specifically about Ghost of Tsushima (which I’m pushing through), but about the genre in general. Basically, I’m comparing  Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch Productions) and Elden Ring (FromSoft) because I haven’t played many other completely through. In fact, Skyrim (Bethesda) and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt Red) are the two I can think of off the top of my head. I really enjoyed Skyrim for the first 50 hours, but then I just started hating it. It was my fault because I tried to do all the covenants/groups in one go. And, I just had my fill about then. I finished it up in 75 hours and never touched it again.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was really enjoyable–until a cave mission about two-thirds of the way through. It was a follow Pippa (I think that’s her name) in the cave, and I got hopelessly lost. I think it was supposed to be a fifteen minute mission or so, but it took me hours. I hated it so much, I considered quitting. I knew I was near the end, though, so I stuck it out and eventually stumbled my way out of the cave. Disheartened and unhapp,y I finished up the game as quickly as I could. I hated the first DLC and did not play the second. The main game did have one of the best written quests I’d ever played, though (Bloody Baron). I think I put roughly 115 hours into this game.

In yesterday’s post, I made comparisons between Ghost of Tsushima and Elden Ring. I want to continue down that path today.

I have noticed that I play open world games in a way that makes me less and less enthused about them as I go. I explore every nook and cranny as I go, leaving no stone unturned. I play for hours on end and am super-absorbed. Then, at some point, my interest starts waning, but I still try to do everything available. Until I don’t. Usually, that’s when I stop playing the game. Or in the case of Skyrim and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, start mainlining the main story.

With Elden Ring, I still explored every inch of the domain, but the luster dimmed as the game went on. Part of the issue is that the mid-to-late game was balls-hard. Also, it was set in a snowy area (which I love) with limited visibility (which I hate). I could not see anything in this area, and I plunged to my death so many times. In addition, I had no desire to fight the stronger enemies when I could not see them, and I started riding past them. Esepcially as they were all repeat enemies.


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Why Elden Ring is great, but not perfect, part three

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I’ve been watching videos from Kinda Funny Games. They have recently changed their review score to 10 (from 5). Then, they did two videos in which they listed games for each number (from each guy). I’ve included the one for 10 below. They briefly say that 10 is not perfect, but a masterpiece. Then they go into detail about what they consider a masterpiece to be. This is the closest to what I think a 10 is, and I appreciate that they really get down to the nitty-gritty. And also that they mention that no game is perfect.

That’s what gets me stuck on giving a 10. Nothing is perfect. If 10 is perfect, then no game can be a 10. Saying it’s the best of the best, though, is something different. I still hesitate in giving a 10, but it’s more conceivable when I don’t think of it as perfection.

Here’s part two of why the game is not a 10 (perfect). I think part of my hesitation is that the flaws are persistent and continue from game to game. Wonky hitboxes; poison swamps; the last pixel of health; enemies hidden around the corner/up on the ceiling/behind a crate; surprise swarm of enemies; messy UI. The last was cleaned up somewhat in this game and I appreciate the ‘new’ tab they instituted in the DLC.

The UI is not great, though. I won’t say it’s terrible, but it’s barely serviceable. There are not ways to easily sort items (at least not that I know of), and it’s a pain to have to scroll through a million items to find the one you want. Now, granted, you can put items in the storage box at a site of grace or sell the extras, but I’m not going to do either of those. One reason for the latter is because I have the irrational fear that I’m going to want to do something different with each of the fifteen straight swords that I have. Or the thirty-two Radahn’s gauntlets. I actually have less of a problem selling the armor because you can’t do anything with them, but the weapons  Iget stuck on.

With my NG+ characters, I have so much shit on them. It gives me lowkey anxiety any time I scroll through all the shit I have on me. Again, that is more me than the game, though.

I’m currently doing an intelligence build run and NG+ on my strength run. I really wish there was more to do on NG+ to distinguish it from NG. I still enjoy NG+, mind, but it would be a little boost to have something new to perk me up on NG+ and beyond.


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Why Elden Ring is not a 10 for me, part two

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I want to start this post by saying that I don’t believe in 10s. Here is yesterday’s post. I don’t think anything is perfect, and while I get in theory that there is a perfect score, well, I mentally call it “a really damn good game” or something like that. I also get that you have to have a top score. If there wasn’t a 10, but only a 9, then the 9 would become the perfect score. It’s just a thing to me that I don’t like a perfect score or talking about numbers as if they are objective (when it comes to ranking).

It makes it kinda pointless, then, for me to talk about why I don’t think of Elden Ring as a 10, then, right? Maybe, but I’m going to do it, anyway. And it’s not just the number 10, but the fact that people think it’s the perfect game–or close to it. It’s not. I hasten to add that it’s my favorite game for good reason, so I’m not dissing it by saying it’s not perfect. Then again, I get freaked out by the whole talk about perfect because by definition, nothing is perfect. Nothing can hope to be perfect! So I guess I should just make my peace with it by thinking of it as ‘a really fucking good game that is a cut above the rest’.

My brain doesn’t work that way, though. A 10 is perfect and it means that nothing can be better. Or if things can be improved, it should just be little things. The fact that the port sucked on release knocked it automatically out of 10 territory for me (though, ironically, I didn’t have much trouble with it on my mid-tier PC). I ended up giving it a 9.65 or so–which is equal or just above/below what I would give Dark Souls III.  I think? That may not be what I gave it, but it’s what I would give it now after playing the DLC.

We won’t talk about the last boss of the DLC because I have way too many felings about that boss to cover it in this–well, no. I will touch on it because it’s emblematic of what I found problematic about Elden Ring–and the rest of FromSoft’s games.

I want to be very clear that I am a huge FromSoft fan. I admire their unrelenting vision and the way that they do what they want, no matter what. They have changed the landscape of gaming, and it’s overwhelmingly for the better. They are the standard against which others can measure themselves, and inevitably come up short. They are almost gods in the industry–deservedly so.


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