From Software Elden Ring - From Software's new game with writing by GRRM

[Skinwalker]

One of the reasons the Souls are so cryptic is that the writing is confusing merely because it is kind of awkward.

Mostly because the dialogue is written to be vague and non-informative, whereas all the actual information is hidden in damn item descriptions.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

Oh, apparently someone called "Godfry" was ruling as Elden Lord before Marika. That's the demiurge, probably.

The game's world design and aesthetic seems to be influenced by medieval European folklore, which is wonderful. But, of course, they couldn't help themselves and stuck in a bunch of gross bodyhorror monsters and general weirdness, not to mention the nihilistic moral ambiguity of the situation.

Also, too many sushi creatures wondering around. Giant land-dwelling crabs, lobsters, octopuses, shimp people, is the ocean closed for renovation? Gtfo, sea bugs.

FromSoft games are only european in aesthetics. The fundaments of everything are closely tied to asian and japanese folklore and philosophies. Plus Berserk (which was the same).

Those philosophies in Elden Ring are not eastern though, which is why there's a chance they were Martin's idea. He may have looked at Dark Souls style of "lore" and decided to come up with his own version of it.

According to Myazaki all the lore comes from Martin what Myazaki did is write the actual text in the game, which is evident since a lot of it is intended to guide the player and is also poorly written or poorly translated depending on how you want to look at it. One of the reasons the Souls are so cryptic is that the writing is confusing merely because it is kind of awkward. Once you know what the text is actually saying, you'll see the meaning is actually quite unsubtle and blunt, sometimes by design (like those white ghost guys, the only purpose of which is to give game clues).

In Souls, it is the visual story telling that's actually very good the text is often out there, which again could just be a translation issue. It's clear Myazaki wrote this stuff in Japanese then handed it to someone else to translate it.

I mean, abrahamic religions are technically eastern too. Monarchs being "chosen by the gods" is, iirc, an idea of persian origin. But yeah, a lot of it becomes muddled due to From hiring the cheapest translators they could find (which actually fucks up the game's story and its lore)

 

[Skinwalker]

Yes, the emperors of pagan Rome did not claim to have been chosen by the gods to rule and to be raised to godhood themselves. Or, alternatively, antique Italy is extremely eastern and "abrahamic" (not to mention, persian ).

 

[notpl]

One of the reasons the Souls are so cryptic is that the writing is confusing merely because it is kind of awkward.

Mostly because the dialogue is written to be vague and non-informative, whereas all the actual information is hidden in damn item descriptions.

It is also translated by people who at best do not speak Japanese very well, or at worst do and seek to deliberately subvert and mislead western audiences.

 

[Skinwalker]

Anyway, a trapped chest in the starting area teleported me to some cave on the other side of the world. After exploring the horrible red desert outside, I came across a "Meteorite staff" that's way more powerful than the one I have.

Thanks, dodgy teleporting chest!

 

[Caim]

Anyway, a trapped chest in the starting area teleported me to some cave on the other side of the world. After exploring the horrible red desert outside, I came across a "Meteorite staff" that's way more powerful than the one I have.

Thanks, dodgy teleporting chest!

The meteorite staff is pretty good: it has modest stat requirements, is easy to obtain, has S scaling, increases the damage of all gravity sorceries (pretty much anything that throws rocks, you'll have found one alongside the staff itself) and does not require upgrades.

It does fall off as you progress through the game and start to upgrade better casting implements, but early on it's pretty good.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Kept trying to get a backstab but the bitch just wouldn't shoot that ball of fire lmao, so i had to put her out of her misery, meh:



This time i knew what i was getting into and used Night Maiden's Mist to get rid of the dogs first. Never again.

 

[Skinwalker]

The meteorite staff is pretty good: it has modest stat requirements, is easy to obtain, has S scaling, increases the damage of all gravity sorceries (pretty much anything that throws rocks, you'll have found one alongside the staff itself)

Thanks for the tip!

 

[Caim]

The meteorite staff is pretty good: it has modest stat requirements, is easy to obtain, has S scaling, increases the damage of all gravity sorceries (pretty much anything that throws rocks, you'll have found one alongside the staff itself)

Thanks for the tip!

Rock Sling is particularly interesting because it doesn't deal magical damage, just physical. This means that enemies with high magic defense like wizards (as a rule of thumb, if an enemy uses a particular element it's also good at resisting it) are much more susceptible to it than conventional spells. Most types of sorceries have an associated staff to buff their damage, except for one or two of the most obscure types and of course the most common one: Glintstone.

There's a few more gravity spells that play more into the theme: a more straightfoward version will be on your path in the second legacy dungeon, and several escalating variants of "more rocks lmao" can be found as you progress.

And if you really like the gravity theme and want to do some more magic damage go check the beach south of where you found the teleporting chest. You can jump down safely into the updrafts, and make sure to peek around the beach for a route to something you might have seen before.

 

[Skinwalker]

I admit, I'm enjoying this game much more than I thought I would. In true open world "RPG" traditions, I've pretty much put the main quest on hold, and am getting sucked into various things I discover along the way. Who knew that simply trying to uncover the world's map would involve so many adventures along the way?

Also, did I just come across a village of androids from the Alien(s) series, who are trying to do the Westworld season 2 exodus to their "promised land"? What the fuck?

 

[JDR13]

Also, did I just come across a village of androids from the Alien(s) series, who are trying to do the Westworld season 2 exodus to their "promised land"? What the fuck?

Er...huh? What's the name of that location?

 

[Spike]

Also, did I just come across a village of androids from the Alien(s) series, who are trying to do the Westworld season 2 exodus to their "promised land"? What the fuck?

Er...huh? What's the name of that location?

I am assuming he is talking about the albinauric village?

 

[Silverfish]

I've pretty much put the main quest on hold

Same, but that was because the one-two punch of Margitt and Godrick put me in my place.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Also, did I just come across a village of androids from the Alien(s) series, who are trying to do the Westworld season 2 exodus to their "promised land"? What the fuck?

Er...huh? What's the name of that location?

I am assuming he is talking about the albinauric village?

Didn't he just start the game? How would he have gotten that far.

 

[Caim]

Also, did I just come across a village of androids from the Alien(s) series, who are trying to do the Westworld season 2 exodus to their "promised land"? What the fuck?

Er...huh? What's the name of that location?

Albania.

 

[Skinwalker]

Also, did I just come across a village of androids from the Alien(s) series, who are trying to do the Westworld season 2 exodus to their "promised land"? What the fuck?

Er...huh? What's the name of that location?

I am assuming he is talking about the albinauric village?

Didn't he just start the game? How would he have gotten that far.

It's right next door to the academy of Raya Lucaria!

 

[Lyric Suite]

How did you get up there so fast.

I mean, technically you can go there rightaway but still. Guess i'm the only completist autist here who doesn't move out of an area unless i sweeped the whole thing from top to bottom.

 

[Skinwalker]

I was looking for the map of that area, and the high unpassable cliffs were annoying me. So I kept at it until I found a way to pass into the cliffs, only to discover that this is an unrelated area, and that the map was in a different place altogether. Oops!

 

[Lyric Suite]

Anyway, the page says those guys were weak to sleep but i had no idea how much lmao:



Since they are immune to status effects of any kind aside for this one, to keep with the theme of this run i wanted to be "strategic" and switch to the one thing they are actually weak to, but apparently all i managed to do is bypass the fight entirely.

 

[Caim]

Remember the Convergence mod for Dark Souls 3? That's entered alpha for Elden Ring now.

https://www.nexusmods.com/eldenring/mods/3419

Already there's a load of new classes with new gear. And of course a lot of new spells.

 

[Spike]

Remember the Convergence mod for Dark Souls 3? That's entered alpha for Elden Ring now.

https://www.nexusmods.com/eldenring/mods/3419

Already there's a load of new classes with new gear. And of course a lot of new spells.

I'm looking at those revamped areas/new bosses

 

[Skinwalker]

And if you really like the gravity theme and want to do some more magic damage go check the beach south of where you found the teleporting chest. You can jump down safely into the updrafts, and make sure to peek around the beach for a route to something you might have seen before.

Did you mean the Gravitas ash of war, or is there also a spell that I missed there? Also, the tutorial cave is there, nice!

 

[JDR13]

Anyway, the page says those guys were weak to sleep but i had no idea how much lmao:



Since they are immune to status effects of any kind aside for this one, to keep with the theme of this run i wanted to be "strategic" and switch to the one thing they are actually weak to, but apparently all i managed to do is bypass the fight entirely.

Pretty sure they're not immune to Rot.

 

[Caim]

And if you really like the gravity theme and want to do some more magic damage go check the beach south of where you found the teleporting chest. You can jump down safely into the updrafts, and make sure to peek around the beach for a route to something you might have seen before.

Did you mean the Gravitas ash of war, or is there also a spell that I missed there? Also, the tutorial cave is there, nice!

Yep, that's the one. It's an easy and early way to get access to magic damage on your weapon, and while it might not be the best ash of war it'll do its part. Plus it ties into the whole theme.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Anyway, the page says those guys were weak to sleep but i had no idea how much lmao:



Since they are immune to status effects of any kind aside for this one, to keep with the theme of this run i wanted to be "strategic" and switch to the one thing they are actually weak to, but apparently all i managed to do is bypass the fight entirely.

Pretty sure they're not immune to Rot.

They are.

Don't forget we are talking about the illusory versions created by the snail, they are not like the regular kind.

Today i had shit to do but later on i'll make another attempt this time fighting them fair and square. Will be good practice for the duo later on in Farum Azula.