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

[Caim]

Posting on an interesting page.

 

[Odoryuk]

666th page reminds me that there aren't any demons in Elden Ring's world. Feels pretty fresh (even Bloodborne had demons early in the development, but they were scrapped). It's more Antique view on godhood, rather than Abrahamic.

 

[Val Doom]

666th page reminds me that there aren't any demons in Elden Ring's world. Feels pretty fresh (even Bloodborne had demons early in the development, but they were scrapped). It's more Antique view on godhood, rather than Abrahamic.

Unless you count the Omen, which closely resemble the Oni from Japanese folklore in their design. Not demons in an Abrahamic sense though, but another example of Elden Ring blending western and eastern elements.

 

[Skinwalker]

666th page reminds me that there aren't any demons in Elden Ring's world. Feels pretty fresh (even Bloodborne had demons early in the development, but they were scrapped). It's more Antique view on godhood, rather than Abrahamic.

Dark Souls never had any demons in the "Abrahamic" sense. Neither did Bloodporn, although the eldritch entities and the Faustian allure of their blood certainly come closer thematically than the Dark Souls chimera monsters.

Not sure about Demon Souls, haven't played that one.

 

[Odoryuk]

666th page reminds me that there aren't any demons in Elden Ring's world. Feels pretty fresh (even Bloodborne had demons early in the development, but they were scrapped). It's more Antique view on godhood, rather than Abrahamic.

Dark Souls never had any demons in the "Abrahamic" sense. Or Bloodporn. Or Sekiro. Maybe Demon Souls, not sure about that one.

Fair enough, but those games did have demons, even as a Dungeon and Dragons trope (except for Bloodborne and Sekiro, who's Demon of Hatred is based on Japanese mythos). Not Elden Ring though. There are imps, but they are hardly demonic in nature, more like automatons.
Update:

The word may perhaps derive from the term ympe, used to denote a young grafted tree.

Miyazaki, what the fuck

 

[Skinwalker]

Fair enough, but those games did have demons, even as a Dungeon and Dragons trope

Not even as a D&D trope. Just generic hybrid/chimera monsters. You could remove the word "demon" from the game, and no one would think of calling them that.

 

[Odoryuk]

Fair enough, but those games did have demons, even as a Dungeon and Dragons trope

Not even as a D&D trope. Just generic hybrid/chimera monsters. You could remove the word "demon" from the game, and no one would think of calling them that.

These mofos look delightfully devilish to me.
Old Iron King is literally a Balrog/balore, though he's not a demon in that game.

 

[Andnjord]

Is it something they cannot fix or they're just being dicks? They are certainly capable of making player attacks bounce off walls. Always a feel good moment, dying because of that shit.

I would guess that the AI isn’t able to navigate the levels or use its attack moves to avoid bouncing on walls the same way a player can. They probably decided that it was easier to live with that occasional jankiness than have enemies stuck in loop hitting a pillar over and over.

 

[Multidirectional]

Is it something they cannot fix or they're just being dicks? They are certainly capable of making player attacks bounce off walls. Always a feel good moment, dying because of that shit.

I would guess that the AI isn’t able to navigate the levels or use its attack moves to avoid bouncing on walls the same way a player can. They probably decided that it was easier to live with that occasional jankiness than have enemies stuck in loop hitting a pillar over and over.

Yeah that sounds very likely.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Not sure why it matters if the game has demons or not when the design of those monsters is so out there.

 

[Skinwalker]

These mofos look delightfully devilish to me.

Looks like a skinned gargoyle to me. But ok, I guess that does make it look kind of demonic. Ironically, lorewise, these things are NOT born of the chaos flame, which is the source of "proper" demons in DS1/DS3.

 

[Odoryuk]

These mofos look delightfully devilish to me.

Looks like a skinned gargoyle to me. But ok, I guess that does make it look kind of demonic. Ironically, lorewise, these things are NOT born of the chaos flame, which is the source of "proper" demons in DS1/DS3.

The weapon of these chaos demons wandering Anor Londo are different from those of other chaos demons, and are imbued with lightning

I'm not a lore expert, but I'm pretty sure they all hail from Izalith after the shit hit the fan with the chaos flame. It's just their weapon is different, probably because they moved to Anor Londo wich has an affinity to lighting, rather than fire.
Also, if by "chimera" earlier you meant Capra Demon, then I don't know what to say, it's a horned bull headed creature and as classic demon looking as you could get in fantasy media.

 

[Lutte]

Loads of satanic/demonic imagery is chimeric in nature. It doesn't get any more demonic than a goat head on a humanoid body. Still, because that imagery was /also/ used in some pagan religions, it can be difficult to tell the intent behind the use of said imagery in some media... but if the game calls it a demon (Capra DEMON) then it's a fucking demon and you don't get to talk about it being ambiguous or "just a chimera".

 

[Damned Registrations]

I knew a guy whose mom was hardcore christian. She'd told him unicorns were demonic because they have horns.

 

[Skinwalker]

I knew a guy whose mom was hardcore protestant christian. She'd told him unicorns were demonic because they have horns.

ftfy

For me, the central theme of a truly demonic creature in the """Abrahamic""" sense is temptation/seduction/oppression/possession, and association with sin and evil concepts. E.g. the demons in something like Dragon Age feel like proper demons because they are embodiments of various vices.

The Dark Souls chaos demons... eh, it's all superficial. The closest thing to a demon there that I can recall would be something like Aldritch. Oseiros fits the bill of someone demonically possessed, but he's just gone mad with his obsession with dragoons.

Loads of satanic/demonic imagery is chimeric in nature. It doesn't get any more demonic than a goat head on a humanoid body.

Low-IQ take, retard. There are several passages in the Bible that describe holy angelic spirits, and some of them also seem to have animal-like heads on humanoid bodies. It's not specific to evil creatures.

 

[CyberWhale]

Would love to fight against these bosses. Capra demon goaty is so pasé.

 

[H. P. Lovecraft's Cat]

Did people forget about Flamelurker. You can't get much more demony than him.

 

[Child of Malkav]

Also Old Iron King

 

[H. P. Lovecraft's Cat]

Smelter Demon fits the aesthetic as well.

 

[Cheesedragon117]

Loads of satanic/demonic imagery is chimeric in nature. It doesn't get any more demonic than a goat head on a humanoid body. Still, because that imagery was /also/ used in some pagan religions, it can be difficult to tell the intent behind the use of said imagery in some media... but if the game calls it a demon (Capra DEMON) then it's a fucking demon and you don't get to talk about it being ambiguous or "just a chimera".

I have to be honest, I was thinking about this the other day, I would LOVE it if these types of old medieval manuscript demons showed up in Elden Ring. Impossible to justify considering the current worldbuilding? Maybe, but God, it'd be so cool. Their overall aesthetic would fit right in with the wild-and-crazy enemy designs already in the game. There are already blymmies, imps, golems and men of crystal. Why leave anything off the table?

By the way, wasn't Mohg's internal name "Greater_Demon"...?

 

[Caim]

Also Old Iron King

 

[Lutte]

Dunno about internal names but mohg doesn't really fit the aesthetic.

Feels more like great old one cultist gone terribly wrong with all the misshapen horns looking like a tentacled head and the vibes of the environment he settled in :

On the more thematic/lore level, like all the other omen stuff and also Dung Eater he has more to do with the shinto understanding of unclean corruption ie kegare.

 

[Terenty]

The only truly unique open zone in ER was Limgrave, literally every other open area had the same copypasted landmarks everywhere, like some cheap ass creed game or smth. That's what makes it feel phoned in and halfhearted.

Its open world is made with modern (read soulless, no pun intended) western game design principles in mind and coming from a Japanese gamedev responsible for a game as unique as Dark/Demon Souls it's a big step back.

 

[H. P. Lovecraft's Cat]

FS doesn't really have a consistant aesthetic when it comes to monsters. They borrow tons of ideas from different cultures and universes. They use a lot of Lovecraftian designs, demonic stuff, undead stuff, mutant stuff, angelic stuff, and countless other mythological creatures and sort of mix them all together. That's what makes them awesome. I don't recall any Giger esque monstrosities in their games. It would be cool to see their take on that.

 

[Lutte]

The only truly unique open zone in ER was Limgrave, literally every other open area had the same copypasted landmarks everywhere, like some cheap ass creed game or smth. That's what makes it feel phoned in and halfhearted.

Its open world is made with modern (read soulless, no pun intended) western game design principles in mind and coming from a Japanese gamedev responsible for a game as unique as Dark/Demon Souls it's a big step back.

Yeah, this was so ubisoft style formulaic it hurts. It would have been almost less offensive if they had done something like an entire area having NO catacombs or caves at all, and maybe another area having a load of extra of that crap if they felt the need to add this much padding somewhere.

As it stands, it was unbelievably predictable. Every time you explored a new map "zone", you knew you'd face: another dragon, another erdtree guardian boss, another catacomb, another mine, another cave, another hero tomb, a church.. in more or less the same quantities, sometimes one extra, sometimes one less, but no variation that would make you feel like you've entered somewhere any different other than the place having a different coat of paint.

Anyway, there was way too much content, and I don't want to hear "But you don't have to do it". How do I know if there isn't going to be an amazing, cool weapon hidden in copypasta302 before doing it? and it's the game series that relies almost entirely on item descriptions to convey its lore. So now, the amount of lore you'd gather naturally, doing cool content in previous games, you need to gather by spending a hundred hours in copypastaland. Seriously, fuck that shit.

It angers me because I really like that game when it shines. I like the classic dungeons a lot. I like most of the bosses. Leyndell's Sewers gave me flashbacks to Demon's Souls, the level design is very reminiscent of DeS in a good way. I wish I could replay this from scratch with a new character, but then I think about the amount of time I'll have to spend watching my character on a horseback, extra garbage content to get the items I'd want for a new build etc (even trying to remember where I got what item feels overwhelming, I might actually have to use a wiki to look up locations to start from scratch without pulling my hair) and I'm like.. no. I can't. I can't replay this.

Games like the previous souls I've replayed so many times on so many different character builds. I knew every corner by heart and could run them to completion in handful of hours without being a speedrunner or doing exploit tactics. They were games that respected your time and ran at a human scale, if you already knew most of the content and just wanted to experience the boss fights again and make new builds the games didn't act like time fucking vampires.

Meanwhile I ended up dropping ER after doing full completion of achievements and no matter how much a part of me wants to go back (I wouldn't be reading this thread if I hadn't the thought), I think back to the chore aspects and.. ah, it's really difficult.

Truly a love hate relationship. If From Soft's next game is also an open world game because of ER's excessive success, then it might turn into pure hatred.