Underneath my yellow skin

Tag Archives: NPCs

Shadow of the Erdtree, let’s talk NPCs

Posted on by • 0 Comments

Today, I want to talk about the NPCs in the Shadow of the Erdtree.

*SPOILER WARNING*

In the RKG Discord, I mentioned the Leda fight which is right before the last boss. Depending on how you do the NPC questlines, you can have (as I did in my first playthrough because I fucked almost all the questlines) Leda and Dane against me and a rando Sanguine Noble. I may have talked about this in a recent post. I knew this was supposed to be epic, and it just felt sad and empty. Oh, I also called in Mimic Tear.

On my second playthrough, I did the best I could to do all the NPC questlines. I didn’t allow Hornsent to enter the fray, though, because he was one-shotting the guy I watched do this fight. And the guy had at least 60 Vigor. Hornsent has the Horned Bairn consumable that sends death heads at people, but I’m assuming he has the incantation rather than a consumable. Or not a consumable because it’s not just one and done–it’s reusable. I think it’s for people who don’t have any other use for their FP. It’s like the Homing Soulmass from the Souls games, except it’s the dark version. And vengeful spirits rather than white puffy stars. I did not have Hornsent in either fight, thankfully.

In the second fight, I had Needle Knight Leda, Moore, Redmane Freyja, and Dryleaf Dane against Sir Ansbach, Thiollier, and me. I definitely mentioned this in the last post or before. It was so joyful and fun with so many different styles of fighting. Thiollier uses poison perufume bottles while Ansbach did…I’m not sure. I think he did blood scrawls such as Mohg did. Moore just two-handed a huge shield that bonked you backwards. Leda did holy shit, I think. Dryleaf is the martial arts guy. His shit is dope, but not my style at all, unfortunately.

It starts with Freyja and…Dane I think. Two come in at a time, and I can’t remember if my boys came in right away or not. It was such a great fight, and someone in the Discord mentioned that he reacted more emotionally to this fight than the final boss. I agreed with him because you get to know the NPCs throughout the DLC–if you play it right. I knew that Redmane Freya was in it for the love of the fight. She was loyal to Radahn and admired him beyond reason. Weirdly, her sword does Lion’s Claw (that’s not the weird part), but when you get it, it does Spinning Slash. Which is shit, by the way. And why for a great sword? That just really puzzles me.

Afterwards, when all their bodies save Leda’s are in the arena, I felt an actual pang of regret and sorrow. Also a tiny bit of excitement that I would get all their shit, but mostly remorse and sadness. Yes, they were fighting for a cause and yes, they were happy to die for it, but all of them were decent people. The ones in this room, that is. I am not as keen on Leda, but we’ll get to her in a second.

Continue Reading

Elden Ring questlines; part deux

Posted on by • 0 Comments

Yesterday, I was talking about the NPCs in Elden Ring and how I thought Gav and Rory were going to react to the end of different NPC questlines. There are so many NPCs in this game, it’s wild. Some ore little, self-contained stories such as Irina and Edgar. This is a weird one that I still can’t wrap my brain around.

You meet Irina fairly early on as you make your way through the Weeping Peninsula. That is, you can go through the Weeping Peninsula really early in the game. Irina is on the side of the road and distressed because the castle she was from was under siege. The castle? Castle Morne. Her father was the castellan there.

This pricked my interest because there is an Irina in Dark Souls III. She is a blind Fire Keeper wannabe. She has a minder, Eygon. They are both from Carim. His armor is the Morne’s Set, so you can see why I was so excited by this whole situation in Elden Ring. She asks you to bring a letter to her father in the castle. When you get to Castle Morne and find her father, his name is Edgar. Which is close to Eygon! You give him the letter and then go about your merry business.

Once you clear up Castle Morne and go back to Stormveil, you can ride by Irina again. And she will be dead. A big cleaver to the head. Edgar will be there, mourning her (Morne-ning her?) and lamenting that he had stuck to his duty rather than return to her. He vows to get his revenge.

Later, two things happen. One, you run into Hyetta, who has the exact same character model as Irina. And she (Hyetta) has her eyes covered, much like Irina in the first game–well, she was blind. Why does Hyetta have the same character model? No idea.

The second thing that happens is that you’ll stumble across the Revenger’s Shack in Liurnia. Edgar invades you, and you have to kill him. Well, you don’t have to, but if you do, you get a sweet halberd as a reward.

It has to be a nod to Dark Souls III. There was no way it was just coincidental. In DS III, Irina’s questline is more elaborate. And if you give her a naughtyBraille tome, Eygon will drag her away. Then, if you go to a certain place, he wants to fight you. I believe if you defeat him, Irina goes back to the Firelink Shrine. It’s been a while since I’ve done her questline that way because I like to summon Eygon for Dragonslayer Armour (boss fight).


Continue Reading

Elden Ring–unhappily ever after

Posted on by • 0 Comments

Elden Ring (FromSoft) is a massive game. RKG just finished their first series (they are doing three and this one was 30 episodes over six months. I’ve included the last episode below), and I was thinking about how Rory has been worried about having to kill Alexander at some point and how the questlines of other NPCs will end.

He and Gav have been speculating wildly about the NPCs, and they have hit the nail on the head in alarming ways. Then again, they are speculating all over the place, so it’s not surprising they will get it right now and again. Especially since they’ve played all the other games and know how these things go.

I was running over the different NPC questlines in my mind and thinking about which ones end well (spoiler, almost none of them). I’ve decided to ruminate over the NPCs they’ve already met and what happens to them. I’m also going to speculate how they are going to react to the conclusion of the different questlines. I’m going to try to do it in order that the boys met them. Well, rough order.

First up is Kale. Nothing bad happens to the merchants (except you can kill them if you want. I’ve never done it). Then there’s Renna (Ranni). Nothing bad happens to her, but all three of her advisors die. We’ll talk about them next. Seluvis dies at some point, and I never knew why, though I read about when it happened. It was when you got the thing Ranni wanted you to get (that ended the first part of her quest). I only just realized it’s probably because you can betray her before this point at Seluvis’s instruction. So my guess is that she kills him. Which, good for her.

Side note: I love his hat. I love his whole outfit. But I can’t wear his armor because he’s such a jerk! I’m mad they made the big hat in this game belong to such an asshole.

Anyway, I’m not sad when he dies. In fact, I’m viciously gleeful. Then there’s Blaidd. Oh, Blaidd. Forever BAE. After the end of Ranni’s questline, if you go back to her first tower, there’s Blaidd turned hostile. I will say that I don’t watch lore videos for the most part because I like to make up my own reasons for why things are the way they are.

My belief is that once Ranni was done with this world, Blaidd lost his purpose. That’s the case with the Dark Souls game. People went hollow once they lost their purpose or fulfilled their ambition. Having to kill Blaidd was agony, but his weapon is sweet. It’s what I used for my second playthrough (and third in NG+). But having to kill him was heartbreaking.


Continue Reading

More Elden Ring NPCs

Posted on by • 0 Comments

Yesterday, I had a post about my favorite NPCs in Elden Ring. I didn’t get to name as many as I wanted, so I am continuing the theme today.

5. Miriel, Pastor of Vows. This is a no-brainer. Who does not love the big dog? This is a joke, by the way. For whatever reason, in the community, any turtle is a dog. So any time you see a turtle in the game, you’ll see the message, “Behold dog”. Turtle is one of the words you can use in the message system so no idea why the community has decided that a turtle is a dog. There are also dogs in the game, so this makes it doubly weird. But adorable, really.

Anyway, Miriel is a turtle. But also a pope. Or at least that’s what he’s called. The turtle pope. Or dog pope if you want to be pedantic about it. Heh. He gives you a lot of lore about the world of The Lands Between and a few specific demi-gods/bosses of the area.

Weirldy, he’s also in a church that if you go there at night, he’s not there. Why? So you can fight a Bell Bearing Hunter who is hard as nails and I still have no idea why they show up at night in various locations.

Anyway, Miriel is a teacher of spells and incantations, too. I like giving everything to him I can because he’s my favorite of the teachers by far and because it’s more convenient than traipsing all over the map to various teachers.

He also teaches you about how to forgive your sins, which means if you aggro an NPC you didn’t mean to, they will forgive you. This is in all the games, but this is the first time involving dew and bathing.

Turtle Pope is the best and never fails to make me smile. There is a plushie of him which I just may have to get.

6. D, Hunter of the Dead. He is in glorious armor and speaks mysteriously of death and such. Well, not so mysteriously, but portentously. His voice is so damn sexy; he was my first bae in the game. That was short-lived, however, as he is slewn within the first quarter of the game. But then you run into his twin brother under very strange circumstances.

The questline is odd, and I’m not quite sure I’ve really pieced it all together. In the short time D is around, he does sell you two incantations that are thematically consistent. He made a big impression on me, and I wished he had been around longer.


Continue Reading

Elden Ring NPCs galore

Posted on by • 0 Comments

So. Yes. I’ve done all my favorite NPCs from past FromSoft games. Yesterday’s post was about Dark Souls III. Now, we’re up to the current one, Elden Ring, and it’s massive. There are so many NPCs, it’s mind-boggling. The current Roundtable Hold (accompanying video from RKG that comes out every other Sunday) is about Gav and Rory’s impressions on the various NPCs they’ve met so far, and it’s but a fraction of all the NPCs they’ll meet in the future.

It’s interesting to see how on or off their immediate reactions to the characters were. Gav is Welsh so of course he’s goin to be predisposed to like the Welsh chaaracters. He makes no bones about being very biased for his kins people, so I’m not telling tales out of school.

Rory, on the other hand, is very much predisposed to take people at surface value. For example, he loves Alexander (whom they call Alex) because he is jovial and bluff. Makes no difference that when you first meet him, he’s stcuk in a hole in the ground. You have to give him a good whack on the ass to un-stick him, and then he talks to you heartily of how he’s a warrion on an important journey.

Do you have any evidence of this? No. But because he’s so positive and booming, Rory immediately warms to him (as does Gav). Much like Solaire or the Onion Knight of the first Souls game. I’ve made it known that both are fine, but they’re not my faves.

I would say, though, that the way Rory and Gav are reacting to the characters is pretty true to lfe. Most people do make snap judgments on other people, me included. They may not admit it out loud, but it can be based on looks or voice or whatever else irrationally pushes your buttons. Personally, anyone who is too charming is suspect to me. Because my father is a narcissist–

By the way, I know it’s become an internet meme, calling people a narcissist, but my father truly is one. I’m not going to give up the word just because it’s become trendy. It’s a perfectly good word, and I’ve been using it for him for decades.

I also don’t like people who are too effusive for no reason. That’s a subset of the previous characterization, but it’s a bit more specific. Someone who is overly complimentary without knowing me is immediately a cause for concern.

So. Here we go. My favorite NPCs from Elden Ring. Take it for granted that Patches is on the list and that this is the best questline of his so far.

1. Blaidd the Half-Wolf. I know this is the easy pick, but he’s incredible. From the voice to the look to the pathos of his story, he has everything going for him. Even though I missed his introductory point in my first playthrough, I was able to catch up with him later.

I love that you run into him several times in the game. His storyline is entwined with Ranni’s, who’ll Ill get to in a second. I could put these two together because their questlines go together, but each NPC on their own is worthy of a placement.

I also love that you get to summon him twice. Once to help him in an Evergaol and one for the spectacle that is a middish game big boss fight. It’s easily the most ridiculously lavish boss fight in the game, and it’s just wild.

The end of Blaidd’s questline is a tearjerker, for sure, but his weapon is one of my faves.


Continue Reading

Dark Souls III NPC love

Posted on by • 0 Comments

Now it’s time for the main course. Weve had salad and apps, but we’re still hungry for more. At least I am. And Dark Souls III has been my favorite game for years. Now, it’s tied with Elden Ring (which I’ll get to in the next post), but still a favorite. I love that I can get human summons for it, especially on the weekendes.

I love this game with all my heart. I have played it at least two dozen times. I’ve hundo chievo’ed it, and it was the first game I played after leaving the hospital. It was a few weeks later, and it was just me running around outside the Firelink Shrine killing the scrubs who reside there. I had tears in my eyes because it was like coming home.

1. Yuria of Londor. She is forever BAE. she disappeared from my first playthrough, which made me mad, sad, and upset. I thought about restarting the game because I had intended on going dark magicks, but I decided to just let it be. It turned out that she was not necessary for dark magicks, but she was necessary for my heart.

She is a huge part of the game. She shows up wthen Yoel of Londor dies. I’m not going to get into it, but it’s a thing. If you do another thing, then she disappears. Before she does, she tells you that she wants you tou usurp the flame. Which, hell yeah! Fuck the rule of law and the First Flame.

Later on, she warns you about Orbeck, the magic teacher. I don’t xnow why, exactly, but he has said that he’s an assassin, so maybe he went up against her in the past. It’s a bit weird because if you do kill him and give his ashes to Yuria…nothing happens. If you don’t kill him…nothing happens. I usually don’t kill him and Yuria’s questline goes on.

At some point, she asks you if you know Anri. She says you will be wed to him, which, ok, weird.  Marriage in a Dark Souls game? Huh. Would not have expected that. Later on, she tells you that he’s ready to be wed and then it just gets weirder from there. There is something you can do to stop this from happening, too.

This is always the ending I choose, by the way. Once in a rare while I may choose the Fire Keeper’s ending, but that’s twice or three times out of thirty at best.

She can fight with you during the final boss fight. The big boss of the first DLC is her sister. You even get a special line of dialogue with Sister Friede if you choose to align yourself with Yuria. It’s a deep and intertwining questline that I’m glad to do every time.

I will say it here. She is GOAT. Period.


Continue Reading

Bloodborne and Sekrio NPCS meh

Posted on by • 0 Comments

More FromSoft NPC realness. Yesterday, I outlined my faves in Dark Souls II (Scholar of the First Sin). Today, I’m going to mash together Sekiro and Bloodborne because I’m pretty sure I cannot do a post each even if I don’t give a targeted number for each. I have played each of the Dark Souls games a dozen times, but I’ve only played through Bloodborne completely twice and Sekiro once. I’m very close to the end of NG+ on Sekiro, but that will not happen.

Let’s start with Sekiro as it’s my least-favorite From game for reasons I have enumerated several times in the past. Honestly, when I think of it, I can’t remember very many NPCs at all. My favorite is someone who is a boss if you go for the bad ending. Let’s get to it.

1. Emma. Emma is the equivalent of your level up lady in the game. Not that you can level up. But she’s the one you give your gourd seeds to in order to strengthen your gourd. Which is your Estus Flask in this game. She’s the adoptive daughter of a doctor and learned from him.

I will say thatt the story is much more straightforward in this game, probably because Activision was the publisher. It’s also probably why there is a hidden shitty map in the game because they insisted there be one (not a shitty one, but a map). Everything about the game is streamlined in a way that I did not appreciate.

Emma is interesting in that she’s loyal to Isshin. She’s his doctor, but she was also rescued by him on the battlefield. I think. She’s the one who drops a letter to you so that you’ll come save Kuro. She knows secrets that she’s not telling you, but you can eavesdrop and overhear her talking about them with the Sculptor.

It seems as if everyone but you know what is happening. That’s another thing that I dont really like about the game. You’re just the pawn. I mean, it’s true in all the game,s but it’s so blatant in this one that you’re being manipulated and used.

Here’s one thing about Emma that sets her (and Isshin) apart from other NPCs (I mentioned it earlier). If you choose to go for the Shura ending, which means to forsake Kuro and follow Owl, then Emma becomes a boss fight, followed by Isshin. She turs from Emma the doctor and gourd lady to Emma, the Gentle Blade. And she’s pretty badass. Oh, wait. There’s a third NPC who becomes a boss. The Sculptor. He’s an on optional boss, the Demon of Hatred, and one whom many people consider the hardest boss in the game. I’m not sure if I’d call him the hardest, but he’s certainly one of the most tedious. Wait! Owl is like this as well. So there are four in this game that go from NPCs to bosses!


Continue Reading

Dark Souls II NPC faves

Posted on by • 0 Comments

In yesterday’s post, I talked about my favorite NPCs in Dark Souls. Today, I’m going to discuss my fave NPCs in Dark Souls II (Scholar of the First Sin) and maybe Bloodborne and/or Sekiro, depending on how this goes. Just a note. Except for Lucatiel, the rest are in no particular order.

1. Lucatiel of Mirrah. She is by far my favorite character in the game. So much so, I’m tempted to leave it at one and just move on to the next game.

I will not do that, though. Let me say why I love her so much. First, she’s an outsider like I am. Second, she’s very handy with her sword. She is one of two characters you can take into boss fights, have her survive three of them, and she’ll give you her stuff the last time you see her. Then, she dies. In the next room, her brother invades you and if you’re wearing her armor, it’s especially poignant.

I did not know this the first time I played, obviously. But it added to my next playthrough, knowing her pathos. Or whenever I found out. I’ve played the game dozens of times by now and have platted it so I don’t remember the details of when I figured out what about it.

It was always heartbreaking to me that Lucatiel died just before her brother showed up because her whole quest is looking for him. Then again, maybe he invaded because she died. Who knows? I love her mask and hat, too, by the way. It’s so badass.

2. Lonesome Gavlan. I did not know that was his full title, by the way. It makes things much sadder. He’s a big and hearty Gyrm whom you meet in No Man’s Wharf. he’s chugging beer from a big ol’ stein when you meet him, and he’s a man of very few words. He wants to wheel and he wants to deal. And, what he really wants is souls. Lots and lots of souls. That is the currency in the Souls games, by the way. so he’s a vendor.

Others of his race (Gyrms) are enemies. They are basically big dwarves (in the fantastical sense) who are stronk and like axes. I’m gathering that the lonesome in Gavlan is because he’s been kicked out of Gyrm society for one reason or another. Or that he does not want to be in that society, which might be because he doesn’t want to fight), and they are pretty cool.

It was fun in the Retry of this when the lads ran into Gavlan because Gav (from RKG) took an immediate shine to him. Gavlan resembled Gav from big bushy beard to having a big mug o’ beer in hand. Gav said immediately that he liked him before Gavlan even said his name. Once he did, Gav’s face brightened up and he was thrilled.

Gavlan moves twice, but he doesn’t really say much other than he wants to wheel and deal, that he wants souls, and that’s about it. Still. In a game that is pretty sparse on NPCs, I’ll take it.


Continue Reading

FromSoft NPC love

Posted on by • 0 Comments

NPCs. Love them or hate them, they exist. For the most part, I’m glad about it. They add flavor to the worlds that I’m inhabiting for the next few hourrs. Yesterday, I wrote about my favorite FromSoft NPCs overall. Today, I’m going to focus on a few from each game. Why? Because I want to and I can. I’ll do it in the order I played them.

First, Dark Souls. the OG (obligatory I have not yet played Demon’s Souls).

1. Laurentius of the Great Swamp. He is my favorite for selfish reasons. I am a Pyro first and foremost, and he is the basic pyro teacher. Plus, I like rescuing him from being eating by the butcher. I liked rolling through his barrel to set him free. Then, seeing the fire glow from his hand as he’s talking to me (in his lovely voice).

Then, when I’m at the Firelink Shrine the next time, he’s sitting there casually offering his wares in a strange way. He says he can teach you unels you ‘find the magicks unsavory?’ Which, normally you want to answer yes if an NPC asks you a qusetion.In this case, you want to answer no.

Now. If you meet join the Chaos Servants covenant and get the Great Chaos Fireball in return or meet Quelana and get any of her chaos pyros and show them to Laurentius, he will ask where you got such an amazing pyro. If you answer him truthfully, then he’ll go in search of said pyro.

Next time you’re in the swamp of Blighttown, Laurentius will be there, pelting you with his pyros. He has found his purpose, so he’s lost his mind. You will have to put him down (or avoid him the whole time. That’s why I refuse to tell him where I got the pyro. I want him alive and kicking in Firelink Shrine.

2. Patches. I have said many times that I’m very pro-Patches. #LetPatchesLiveHisBestLife. In the many worlds I have run into him in, he is the only constant. He is going to stab you in the back, and then he’s going to grovel for you to forgive him. Then, he will be a great merchant who will sell you good shit. And he has a severe hatred of clerics.

I am putting him in this game, but just realize that he is across all the games. Even if it’s not exactly him each time. And he is at his best in Elden Ring.

Continue Reading

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty–I fell instead

Posted on by • 0 Comments

I beat the first boss of Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty (Team Ninja), and I think it was glitched for me. Why? Bceause, and needless to say, there will be spoilers for the first boss in this post. In yesterday,s post, I wrote about my quick impressions. Now I need to hash out my feelings about the game.

Many of my frustrations with the Niohs are present here as well. Funky controls/buttons, yes. I know that the Souls buttons schematic is considered bad by most people. But, it wsa my first schematic for these kinds of games, which means it’s the one imprinted in my brain. RB + RT for light and heavy attacks. B for roll (always), and A for interaction. A is also jumping in the latter games. X is heal (rather, consumables) and Y is for two-handing.

On one of my Xbox controllers, the B button broke. I asked my brother how to fix it and he said to change the button to something else to roll.  I reacted as if he had told me to chop off my fingers. Map it to another button? Are you kidding me? B IS ROLL. B has always been roll. B will always be roll. There is no discussion to be had here.

To be fair, B is evade/dodge in this game. But it’s also the deflect as well. And it was the same in the second Nioh. Well, RT+B was the burst counter in the last game. When the game tried to explain this, it did it very poorly. I got the impression that you had to hold down LB as you hit B, but, no. It’s just B. Or LS+B for direction deflecting. and tapping B twice has you dodging.

The imputs are not precise. If you’re not perfectly still as you hit B, you can circlce-strafe the enemy–as I found out several times fighting the boss. I’m not completely complaining because that means you won’t get hit or get hit less, but it means that you can’t count on getting the deflect if you’re moving around.

So the first boss is a wrestler-looking guy who bellows and pounds his chest as he swings a huge pinecone mace/hammer. He’s quick and seemingly has endless stamina. Drinking your estus in this game, er, Dragon’s Potion? Whatever the healing thing is called takes F-O-R-E-V-E-R to drink. We’re talking Dark Souls II levels of drinking speed (which is notoriously terrible). Also, that magic I was talking about being so great in the last post? I was wrong. In bosses, it’s useless because the boss is just too relentless. It’s hard to get off an offensive spell. Also, there is a secondary thing about the spells that I did not understand until hours into the boss fight. That’s on me because it makes complete sense, but it was still frustrating.

There are five different kinds of magic. Fire, wood, water, metal, and earth. There are five different stats you can level up. Each stat corresponds with one of the elements as well. Vigor is….wood? I’m not sure, but let’s pretend it is. If you want to use a level 1 Wood spell, then, you have to have one point in Vigor. If you want to use a level 3 spell, you need three points. This makes sense, but I could not figure it out. During the frustrating boss fight, I wanted to use the spell that gives you back health for damaging the enemy (works for both you and your allies). I needed 4 in Wood Magic. I had no idea how to get to a 4 in Wood Magic until I figured out that the symbols for each level up stat corresponded to the symbols for the magicks.

I used that and the one that buffered defense during the boss fight, but neither my lightning bolt nor my fireball. I just could not get them off with the boss constantly attacking me. Zhang Liang. You have an NPC with you as you fight, the Blindfolded Boy . He  is worse than useless, though. He shouts out encouragement that is blatantly false (“I’ll protect you as you heal!” Don’t fall for it. He won’t) and mostly walks around with his weapon held in front of him. The boss mostly ignores him and goes straight for me. No matter what. Unless the Blindfolded Boy throws little rocks at the boss or something. Then the boss will be diverted for a microsecond before turning back to me.

Continue Reading