Underneath my yellow skin

Tag Archives: the end

FromGames and me, part four

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In the last post, I ended by talking about an ongoing debate I have with a From fan who is an enthusiastic invader in the games. Which, whatever. Be a dick if you want to be a dick. The tension of summoning, blah, blah, blah, bullshit. Look, I get it. The hardbois want to continue to be hard and be able to pat themselves on the back that they are just so hard and so good. Which, whatever.

Here’s the thing. I just glanced at the forums about invahding and wow the invaders are such whiny babies. Wah wah wah FromSoft is catering to the non-hardcore fans, wah wah wah. Wah wah it’s no longer fun for those being invaded.

Newsflash: there are a bunch of us that do not like being invaded at all. I’m not going to say it’s the majority because I simply don’t know (and at least I admit that I don’t know, unlike those assholes), but there are enough of us that we deserve to be heard as well.

In Elden Ring, you can only be invaded if you do multi. And, believe me, there are still people invading. Every time I summon in the game, I get invaded as well. It’s annoying AF, but at least I can run into the boss fight and avoid the invader.

Invasion is not fun for many of us. Period. The games are already hard enough and having someone who only invades (which means they’re nails at it) does not make the game any more fun. For me, anyway. If I have to deal with the invader, I find the nearest cliff and jump off it so they don’t have the satisfaction of killing me.

I have no issue with PvP when it’s in the arenas that are designated for it. Have at it and have fun with it. Just leave me the fuck out of it. That’s all I ask.

Fortunately, in Elden Ring, the item to summon is easy to craft. You anly need two, ah, elder flowers? Erdleaf Flower. And they are all over the lands. I compulsively pick everything up as I gallop by, so I can make hundreds of them if I want.

I think we are in the crossroads for From games. The fact that Elden Ring was wildly popular with the gen pop means that they will keep in mechanics that are friendlier in general. And, I would like to point out that even with those accommodations, many newbies dropped out fairly early in the gahme. Where you need to be in order to start the DLC? Only 37% of people ww ho played it on Steam have beaten that boss. In other words, for all the lamenting about how  From has made the game too easy for the lamestream players, many people have not actually finished it.


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Elden Ring: the end, part deux

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More musings about the end of Elden Ring. First post here. I still haven’t figured out a way to fix the save-scum issue I have so I can get all the endings now, but I have a few more ideas to try. If they don’t work, then I’ll just have to do it the old-fashioned way. In my heart, I have the plat, even if I don’t actually have it yet. I am just glad that I chose Ranni’s ending both because it’s the one I most wanted and because it’s the most labor-intensive to achieve.

I’m upset that it didn’t work, yes, but I’m trying to remind myself that I would continue to play this game, anyway, so take a look at the long haul. It helps some, but I’m not going to lie. I’m annoyed that it didn’t work, especially as it was something that was supposedly so easy–and I made three saves just in case.

Anyway, back to Diallos. Of course, spoiler warnings from here on out. Spoilers for days! Near the end of the Volcano Manor questline, he realizes he’s not a fighter and vanishes. I think his quest is done and think nothing more of it. Then, after the game is over, I discover that there is a whole small area I didn’t even know existed. It’s because it’s down some tombstones and I hate that, but also, maybe it wasn’t there at the beginning of the game? I’m not sure. Anyway, it’s called Jarburg and it’s, yes, a town of jars. One of them is Jar Bairn, who is Alexander’s nephew. Alexander is the potboi who gets stuck in the ground and asks you to smack his behind to dislodge him. He is a warrior, meaning he’s eaten the remains of warriors and wanders around, loudly and grandly declaring his intentions. He is also a fan favorite, much in the vein of Siegmeyer, the Onion Knight. I found this area when I was watching a YouTuber and she found it. I went to it and talked to the Jar Bairn until he just repeated dialogue. It was after he asked me to be a potentate and then decided my hands were too rough. Who showed up but Diallos with his poncy hands? Which he did lament at some point. He recognizes me and is a bit embarrassed, but also defiant about serving the pots.


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Sekiro: the journey is now over

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Ed. Note: This is end game shit, so there will be massive spoilers. I will be focusing specifically on the last boss fight and the ending I chose. So, yes, avoid if you’re in the middle of playing yourself, will be playing any time soon, or just don’t want to be spoiled.

Ed. Note II: Apparently, I had much to say before I even reached the last boss and the ending I chose. So, I will not be talking about that except lightly, but it’s still end game content. 

finally at peace.
Go into the light, Wolf.

I finished Sekiro last night.

I was tempted to end the post there, but I have much more to say about it, obviously. Also, note, I said that I finished the game, not that I beat the game like I normally would. Why? Because I don’t feel as if I beat the game–I feel as if I’ve outlasted it. I mean, I know I beat it. I remember the pain and the agony. So much pain. A lot of agony. There might have been some cursing involved as well. But, it’s been half a day since I finished the game, and I still don’t quite believe I did it. I will talk more about my feelings about it further in the post. For now, I want to talk about the last boss fight because it’s the epitome of my feelings for this game–also because I just beat it after two days and six hours of fighting it. Him. Them. You’ll see what I mean when I get there.

In between Owl (Father) and the final boss, there was one optional boss. I had heard tell of this boss being one of the hardest in the game if not the hardest. It is the second-to-last boss, and as I have written in past posts, I was so fucking tired by the end of the game. I go through this in every game because each one takes so much out of me, but it’s especially true in this game. Or it might be that the pain from the past has faded. I have another theory why the end of this game was much harder than the other games–you can’t summon. If something is going to get done, it’s going to be done by me and me alone. Yes, I understand why there’s a reason for making you fight solo, but I would gladly have welcomed some jolly cooperation for the last three bosses.

By the way. Speaking of bosses. There are over thirty mini-bosses in this game (33). Four Lone Shadows. Five Headlesses. Three Shichimen Warriors. Four sumo wrestler types, two of them Juzou the Drunkards. I have beaten this drum more than once, but it’s too much. I beat all of them except two Headlesses who I still might try but probably won’t, but I was rolling my eyes hard by the last third of the game because of all the replication. I would have cut out all of the clones, and there still would have been plenty of mini-bosses left.

Proper boss-wise, there are thirteen. Kinda, sorta. Depending on which path you take, but that seems to be the number I faced. That’s a really low number of proper bosses, by the way. The last boss on the path I chose is a two-fer, which I will get to in a second. Honestly, I wish there had been more proper bosses and less mini-bosses. Then again, facing the proper bosses was pretty significant each time, although some of them were optional. That’s not unusual for FromSoft games, by the way. There are always plenty of optional bosses in the games.

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