I beat Elden Ring yesterday.
I wanted to put that on it’s own line because it’s weighty with import, at least to me. (By yesterday, I mean the 16th of April). First, though, I have to get out of the way that even though I took great pains to set up save-scumming so I could get the plat on one playthrough, it didn’t work. Steam just decided the saves weren’t valid or something? Anyway, I have other saves I’ll try, but I’m oddly not that upset about it. I know I’ll keep playing the game so I will get it in the end, but I have the plat in my heart. And I chose the hardest ending to get–plus the one I really wanted, Ranni’s ending–just in case the save-scumming didn’t work, so there’s that at least.
Anyway, that frustration aside, the last boss was easily the hardest boss in the game for me. It’s the hardest end boss in a Souls (specifically Souls) game ever. Again, there will be spoilers as I’m talking about end game content, so this is your fair warning. Still here? Then let’s talk about that final boss. There’s a cutscene, of course, once you enter the golden mist. It’s Radagon, Marika’s consort, and he’s a sight to behold. Radagon of the Golden Order, to give him his full name. By the way, this was the moment that I realized I’d been mixing up Radagon and Radahn the entire game. Which is hilarious, but now things make more sense. Anyway, he’s fast and has a ton of attacks that do massive holy damage. He has one AoE attack that you have to roll through because it’s not dodgeable, much to my frustration. I beat him fairly easily, but I didn’t celebrate because I knew he was just the first half of the final boss.
Side Note: There was one games journalist who, on a podcast, declared himself a real From player now because he beat the Elden Beast–which is the last boss. That’s not cool at all and one reason I do not like him. He has massive hipster indie boi energy–which I am not fond of.
Anyway. The Elden Beast was really frustrating because it fell into the category of ‘not tethered to the world’ enemy that is my least-favorite because of my spatial issues. I had no idea how close it was to me, which mattered because it had so many AoE attacks. It did a ton of holy damage as well, so I actually specced for this fight by stocking up on holy damage negation, both in armor and in talismans. I thought about respeccing my character for the fight as well, but I was stubborn in wanting to do it with the stats I’d organically accrued throughout the game.