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

[Cat Headed Eagle]

Not entirely sure how I ended up in Crumbling Farum Azula (story-wise, that is), or what this place is even supposed to be (other than weird and messy), but I'm spending way too much time trying to find every possible path in this level. It's clearly a re-tread of the Archdragon Peak from DS3, but not nearly as good as that area was.

The infamous Godskin Duo went down in two attempts. Reduvia works wonders on those fat fucks.

Oh, and Alexander got smashed. Rest in pieces. You were a sympathetic side-character in a souls game, therefore your questline was to invariably end in death. FS doesn't know of any other way to end a character's story.

What?? Farum Azula is way better than Archdragon peak... It's not even close. As for the story, I too don't know why you reappear in Farum Azula. I mean, I know you have to go there to kill the final boss, and why you have to kill him. And that Melina is the one who sends you there. But I have no explanation how it works, and there is some time fuckery involved aswell, probably.

A lot of the plot elements are basically a Woman Moment tbh

 

[Skinwalker]

Farum Azula is way better than Archdragon peak...

 

[Skinwalker]

When you dispose of him, go to that weird church thing in Caelid. The one where you give the death roots.

Why, what's in there? I killed Malekith, but I don't see anything new there.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I don't have a problem with masochism. I actually enjoy it.

 

[JDR13]

Not entirely sure how I ended up in Crumbling Farum Azula (story-wise, that is), or what this place is even supposed to be (other than weird and messy), but I'm spending way too much time trying to find every possible path in this level. It's clearly a re-tread of the Archdragon Peak from DS3, but not nearly as good as that area was.

The infamous Godskin Duo went down in two attempts. Reduvia works wonders on those fat fucks.

Oh, and Alexander got smashed. Rest in pieces. You were a sympathetic side-character in a souls game, therefore your questline was to invariably end in death. FS doesn't know of any other way to end a character's story.

What?? Farum Azula is way better than Archdragon peak... It's not even close. As for the story, I too don't know why you reappear in Farum Azula. I mean, I know you have to go there to kill the final boss, and why you have to kill him. And that Melina is the one who sends you there. But I have no explanation how it works, and there is some time fuckery involved aswell, probably.

I just finished Farum Azula, and I didn't really care for it tbh. Maybe I'm just getting burned out at this point, but everything looked too similar there, and I could never tell where the hell I was.

My favorite areas would probably be Stormveil Castle and Leyndell. I particularly liked the Subterranean Shunning Grounds area underneath Leyndell.

 

[Skinwalker]

At long last, after almost two hundred years hours of gameplay, I became Elden Lord. Whatever that means. Ruler of the world?

The last section of the game was just one boss fight after another:
Dragonlord Placidusax -> Maliketh -> Gideon Ofnir -> Godfrey/Hoarah Loux -> Radagon -> Elden Beast (?)


Only one I found somewhat challenging and rather infuriating was Maliketh, specifically the second phase where gravity apparently stops working and obnoxious anime jumps ensue.

Spoiler

Still no idea wtf Marika was hoping to achieve by breaking the Elden Ring (which is herself? was she just trying to kys?) but clearly she just ruined everything for everyone including xirself. Bitch, what did you expect would happen?

I had no doubt Gideon would attack me at the last moment, but I thought his motivation was to try and seize power for himself... instead, he seems to think that Marika wants the world to remain ruined forever? Weird. Godfrey being Nepheli's biological dad (grand-dad? husband? brother? uncle?) was a surprise, but no one in-game gave a shit, so w/e.

I picked the Goldmask ending, as it seemed the least weird/off-putting to me. Narrator didn't have much to say about it, which only reinforced my confidence that this was the best one to pick. If modernists hate it, then it must be pointing in the right direction.

THE AGE OF ORDER BEGINS

Oh, and all remaining questlines wrapped up with everyone dying. I don't even care anymore. My only regret is that I didn't turn Nepheli into Seluvis' puppet.

best wedding photo ever

 

[JDR13]

Only one I found somewhat challenging and rather infuriating was Maliketh, specifically the second phase where gravity apparently stops working and obnoxious anime jumps ensue.

Oddly enough, I had more trouble with the Draconic Tree Sentinel that guards his room.

 

[JDR13]

Fuck that bitch

 

[Skinwalker]

Ok, so now that I've finished the whole game, I can safely say that the first half of the game is considerably better than the second half.

Leyndell was too big and too annoying (the omen-infested underground is my single most hated level in any soulsgame to date), Mountaintops of Giants were too samey in their appearance, and I really wanted to like Farum Azula, but it was too hard to navigate that place because of all the debris floating around. And Ashen Leyndell was just a gimmick. The lack of any coherent resolutions to the game's story, if it can be called that, also did not help. Oh, and the Haligtree would have been much better if it didn't quickly devolve into yet another castle with convoluted directions.


6.5/10 and I'm being very generous here.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

I actually found Leyndell to be too small. The game is just a series of Souls areas pasted next to each other. I liked it more than what you did, but I'm a fanboy, so...

 

[Silva]

You're getting closer and closer to Malenia :D What level are you?

View attachment 37221

Apparently, someone is a He-Man fan.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

At long last, after almost two hundred years hours of gameplay, I became Elden Lord. Whatever that means. Ruler of the world?
...

Spoiler

I picked the Goldmask ending, as it seemed the least weird/off-putting to me. Narrator didn't have much to say about it, which only reinforced my confidence that this was the best one to pick. If modernists hate it, then it must be pointing in the right direction.

THE AGE OF ORDER BEGINS

Of the six endings,

Spoiler

four of them are nearly identical: Basic, Goldmask's, Fia's, and Dung Eater's. They have the same brief scenes of Leyndell restored and the player-character seated on the throne, with only the lighting, weather, and sky differing. Moreover the narration is identical, except for the final line:

• Basic: "An Age of Fracture."
• Goldmask: "The Age of Order."
• Fia: "The Age of the Duskborn"
• Dung Eater: "The reviled curse that defined our age."

The Chaos / Three Fingers ending shows the player-character clutching his head, which becomes a glowing ball of chaos, followed by a rain of chaos that is welcomed by the PC with arms outstretched. The final graphic is similar to the Leyndell image in the four endings already mentioned, except that the Erdtree itself is emanating chaos, which affects the sky and is burning Leyndell below. There is no scene of the player-character enthroned.

The Ranni ending is quite different and seems to be the 'true' ending. If you created a back-up of your savegame, I recommend viewing it (use the summon sign near Marika).

 

[MerchantKing]

At long last, after almost two hundred years hours of gameplay, I became Elden Lord. Whatever that means. Ruler of the world?
...

Spoiler

I picked the Goldmask ending, as it seemed the least weird/off-putting to me. Narrator didn't have much to say about it, which only reinforced my confidence that this was the best one to pick. If modernists hate it, then it must be pointing in the right direction.

THE AGE OF ORDER BEGINS

Of the six endings,

Spoiler

four of them are nearly identical: Basic, Goldmask's, Fia's, and Dung Eater's. They have the same brief scenes of Leyndell restored and the player-character seated on the throne, with only the lighting, weather, and sky differing. Moreover the narration is identical, except for the final line:

• Basic: "An Age of Fracture."
• Goldmask: "The Age of Order."
• Fia: "The Age of the Duskborn"
• Dung Eater: "The reviled curse that defined our age."

The Chaos / Three Fingers ending shows the player-character clutching his head, which becomes a glowing ball of chaos, followed by a rain of chaos that is welcomed by the PC with arms outstretched. The final graphic is similar to the Leyndell image in the four endings already mentioned, except that the Erdtree itself is emanating chaos, which affects the sky and is burning Leyndell below. There is no scene of the player-character enthroned.

The Ranni ending is quite different and seems to be the 'true' ending. If you created a back-up of your savegame, I recommend viewing it (use the summon sign near Marika).

I didn't realize you liked japanese cartoon porn games Zed. I always thought you were grinding out classic dungeon crawlers all day.

 

[Skinwalker]

Of the six endings,

Spoiler

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I know, I've already watched them all on youtube. Fuck Ranni and her "thousand years of fear, doubt and loneliness". I should have left her dead on her Two Fingers corpse, would have been the "true" ending to her questline, as far as I'm concerned.

Still happy about my Age of Order, whatever that means. The Erdtree seemed radiant once again, and I imagine all the filth and demonspawn will get exterminated under my iron rod.

 

[notpl]

Of the six endings,

Spoiler

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I know, I've already watched them all on youtube. Fuck Ranni and her "thousand years of fear, doubt and loneliness". I should have left her dead on her Two Fingers corpse, would have been the "true" ending to her questline, as far as I'm concerned.

Still happy about my Age of Order, whatever that means. The Erdtree seemed radiant once again, and I imagine all the filth and demonspawn will get exterminated under my iron rod.

Reminder that the Erdtree is an alien parasite devouring people's souls.

 

[Caim]

Of the six endings,

Spoiler

undefined

I know, I've already watched them all on youtube. Fuck Ranni and her "thousand years of fear, doubt and loneliness". I should have left her dead on her Two Fingers corpse, would have been the "true" ending to her questline, as far as I'm concerned.

Still happy about my Age of Order, whatever that means. The Erdtree seemed radiant once again, and I imagine all the filth and demonspawn will get exterminated under my iron rod.

Reminder that the Erdtree is an alien parasite devouring people's souls.

Perhaps the same could be said of all religions...

 

[Skinwalker]

It can definitely be said of atheism. That goes without saying. With religions, depends on which one you're dealing with.

And there's no indication in the game that anyone's souls are being "devoured", let alone by the Erdtree. Are these retarded fan theories for gay people?

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

It can definitely be said of atheism. That goes without saying. With religions, depends on which one you're dealing with.

And there's no indication in the game that anyone's souls are being "devoured", let alone by the Erdtree. Are these retarded fan theories for gay people?

It's a FS trope. You're presented with a narrative where a stand in fod God is dying, and needs life support. You are the one being sent to help. During your journey, you meet people that let you know these other guys who hired you are corrupt, inept, inbred and absolutely wrong, and are just manipulating you (which is proven to be true in game). The Souls games have this "link the fire" thing to them, to protect the age of fire, butt that's useless because the age of darkness (the age of man) is coming and is going to happen no matter what you do.

 

[Skinwalker]

It can definitely be said of atheism. That goes without saying. With religions, depends on which one you're dealing with.

And there's no indication in the game that anyone's souls are being "devoured", let alone by the Erdtree. Are these retarded fan theories for gay people?

It's a FS trope. You're presented with a narrative where a stand in fod God is dying, and needs life support. You are the one being sent to help. During your journey, you meet people that let you know these other guys who hired you are corrupt, inept, inbred and absolutely wrong, and are just manipulating you (which is proven to be true in game). The Souls games have this "link the fire" thing to them, to protect the age of fire, butt that's useless because the age of darkness (the age of man) is coming and is going to happen no matter what you do.

Yes, but the alternative is always completely horrifying and disgusting (like the Lord of Hollows ending in DS3, where a bunch of withered zombies take over the world).

 

[notpl]

It can definitely be said of atheism. That goes without saying. With religions, depends on which one you're dealing with.

And there's no indication in the game that anyone's souls are being "devoured", let alone by the Erdtree. Are these retarded fan theories for gay people?

What do you think the erdtree is? Where do you think it came from? What do you think "runes" are? Why do you think Leyndell is full of dessicated, barely-animate husks seemingly yearning for the ability to die?

 

[Skinwalker]

Why do you think Leyndell is full of dessicated, barely-animate husks seemingly yearning for the ability to die?

Because it's a soulsgame.

 

[Skinwalker]

Everything in the game indicates that the Erdtree is the source of life and rebirth. There is no indication anywhere that it "consumes" souls or that it is alien to the world.

If some retard on ribbit/youturd made a dumb fan theory that brainlets like xirself took for gospel, that is your problem. That's part of the reason I play these games without looking stuff up on google - it's filled not only with spoilers, but also with highly opinionated (if not straight up fabricated) takes presented as though they are factual.

 

[notpl]

Everything in the game indicates that the Erdtree is the source of life and rebirth. There is no indication anywhere that it "consumes" souls or that it is alien to the world.

If some retard on ribbit/youturd made a dumb fan theory that brainlets like xirself took for gospel, that is your problem. That's part of the reason I play these games without looking stuff up on google - it's filled not only with spoilers, but also with highly opinionated (if not straight up fabricated) takes presented as though they are factual.

None of this stuff was especially hard to figure out, I think you might just be a bit dim. The whole conflict of the game centers around who controls the power - literally, the runes, the things you've been powering up with all game - in the Lands Between. The Elden Ring is just the control panel for the generator, currently in the control of the Elden Beast, which is an amorphous gold creature that alternately disguised itself as a goddess (Marika) or her champion Radagon to suit its purposes. Several things in the game make mention of a time before the erdtree even existed, it's a relatively recent creation in a cosmological sense. You have the choice between simply taking its place (Order or Fracture), shutting it down entirely (Fia, Frenzy, Curse), or giving control to a new entity (Ranni's ending).

 

[notpl]

And, yes, a good bit of this "analysis" is just based on the fact that the overarching story in every Souls game is exactly the same. There is always some sort of wellspring of divine force, it is always about to shut off, you are always doing something with it that various fucked up little mutant people want you to.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

Ranni realized this whole scheme and that's why she did what she did. She's playing 5d chess and it's a "good" version of Dung Eater's ending. Dung Eater is a champion of the common man, since the nobles proved, yet again, to be absolutely retarded.