{"id":16399,"date":"2022-02-24T22:46:42","date_gmt":"2022-02-24T22:46:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/02\/24\/elden-ring-brings-exploration-and-death-to-a-new-level\/"},"modified":"2022-02-24T22:46:42","modified_gmt":"2022-02-24T22:46:42","slug":"elden-ring-brings-exploration-and-death-to-a-new-level","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/02\/24\/elden-ring-brings-exploration-and-death-to-a-new-level\/","title":{"rendered":"Elden Ring brings exploration and death to a new level"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Since the launch of Bloodborne<\/em>, I\u2019ve been an avid fan of FromSoftware\u2019s games.<\/p>\n

Bloodborne<\/em> offered a thrilling gothic, Lovecraftian experience, and it swiftly became one of my favourite games of all time. Following Bloodborne<\/em>, I also played FromSoftware titles like Dark Souls 3, Dark Souls<\/em>, and some of Dark Souls 2 <\/em>and Demon\u2019s Souls<\/em>. Now, I\u2019m finally diving into Elden Ring, <\/em>FromSoftware\u2019s latest and greatest.<\/p>\n

Elden Ring <\/em>was directed by notable developer Hidetaka Miyazaki and created in collaboration with the fantasy writer George R.R. Martin, the author behind Songs of Ice\u00a0<\/em>and Fire <\/em>(Game of Thrones<\/em>).<\/p>\n

Over the past week, I\u2019ve played roughly 25 to 30 hours of Elden Ring<\/em> and I can confidently state that it\u2019s one of my favourite games ever. Between the exploration, cool spells, interesting enemy types and fascinating lore, Elden Ring has a lot to offer action-RPG fans who aren\u2019t afraid of a challenge.<\/p>\n

Rich lore\"\"<\/h2>\n

Elden Ring<\/em> features an engrossing story that\u2019s at the same time also a little convoluted. Your character is \u201ctarnished\u201d in the \u2018Lands Between,\u2019 and your goal is to recover every \u2018Great Rune\u2019 and restore the Elden Ring to become the Elden Lord. As previously mentioned, George R.R. Martin worked on Elden Ring<\/em> and helped create the game\u2019s mythos. To be clear, Martin didn\u2019t write the storyline, but he created the Lands Between and its history involving the Erdtree, Elden Ring, Queen Marika and other characters, including the Demigods.<\/p>\n

The Demigods are the big bosses in\u00a0Elden Ring<\/em> and each of them holds a Great Rune, the items you need to reassemble to restore the Elden Ring.<\/p>\n

Elden Ring<\/em>, unfortunately, lacks a quest log and clear missions, forcing the player to travel through the game\u2019s world looking for Legacy Dungeons that host the Demigods. Though the main story reportedly takes roughly 30 hours to complete, I\u2019ve played roughly that amount and have only defeated the first Demigod.<\/p>\n

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Though Elden Ring<\/em> doesn\u2019t feature a quest log, it\u2019s full of NPCs that offer quests \u2014 you\u2019ll just have to remember them yourself.<\/p>\n

During my time with the game, I encountered two rather interesting missions. In one instance, I came across a character by the side of the road. She asked if I could hand a letter to her father who\u2019s trapped in a nearby castle. So, I ventured to the castle and found her father. I gave him the letter and he decided to stay in the castle to fight off the enemies. I then went back to the maiden to tell her that her father was alive, but discovered she had been murdered.<\/p>\n

Another quest started when I hit a talking tree that turned out to be a demi-human under a spell. After I saved the demi-human, they were grateful and said that they would get me items from a nearby cave. I went to the cave and found him injured at the opening. I then defeated the demi-human enemies and bosses in the cave and retrieved an item for the ally demi-human. Now, the demi-human alters my garments for me.<\/p>\n

Speaking of quests, your main goal in Elden Ring<\/em> is to reassemble the Elden Ring, which you\u2019ll accomplish by making your character stronger. Similar to other Souls<\/em>-like games, you do this by defeating enemies. Elden Ring<\/em>\u2018s core formula works like this: you defeat enemies and gain \u2018runes,\u2019 which work like in-game currency that you use to level up your character. You\u2019ll put these runes into RPG-like attributes, including Vigor (health), Stamina (endurance), Mind (your mana bar), Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Faith and Arcane (focuses on Spirits), which are all levelled up individually. You can also find items in the world called charms that increase your attributes, among other things like increasing your resistances. And as you may have guessed, the stronger your character gets, the easier it is to defeat enemies.<\/p>\n

Breaking the mould\"\"<\/h2>\n

Elden Ring<\/em> feels like a combination of Skyrim<\/em>\u2018s open-world and the Dark Souls<\/em> series\u2019 core combat elements. The game is very open and from the start, you can navigate to a variety of areas around the map. For example, before even beating the first Demigod, I encountered a variety of different environment types as I travelled across the land, sometimes by accident.<\/p>\n

Elden Ring\u00a0<\/em>thrives on exploration, and you\u2019ll miss certain spells, weapons, \u2018Ashes of War\u2019 and \u2018Spirit Ashes\u2019 if you\u2019re not always on the lookout. Travelling the lands of Elden Ring\u00a0<\/em>is easy with your \u2018Spectral Steed,\u2019 \u2018Torrent,\u2019 but that\u2019s not always how I discovered new areas. While I haven\u2019t come across a Mimic (an enemy type in Dark Souls<\/em> games that pretends to be a treasure chest), some chests teleport the player across the map. These chests result in the ultimate form of exploration and have brought me to crazy parts of the world, including areas that aren\u2019t necessarily for beginners.<\/p>\n

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This is only a small portion of Elden Ring\u2019s map.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A level of exploration has always been part of Souls<\/em> games, but Elden Ring<\/em> takes the concept to another level and you\u2019re encouraged to get lost and stray from the main path. You\u2019ll collect Map Fragments that instantly reveal the surrounding portion of the World Map. This map becomes really helpful as you progress through the game and you\u2019ll be able to fast travel to \u2018Sites of Grace\u2019 on the map (Sites of Graces are like your \u2018Bonfires\u2019 in Dark Souls\u00a0<\/em>titles).<\/p>\n

Elden Ring<\/em> also offers \u2018Beacons\u2019 and \u2018Map Markers.\u2019 Beacons are displayed on the World Map and in the environment, allowing you to follow a blue pillar of light to your destination. While Map Markers let you place markers in your World Map, you can always remember different locations on the map. I found it pretty useful to go back to locations with puzzles I couldn\u2019t initially figure out or when I was stuck on difficult bosses.<\/p>\n

Ashes of War<\/h2>\n

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Elden Ring<\/em> features a variety of spells, weapons, garments, Ashes of War and Spirit Ashes, giving players various ways to fight their enemies.<\/p>\n

In my playthrough, I used a \u2018Faith\u2019 build, which allows me to use a variety of spells like \u2018Lightning Spear,\u2019 \u2018Poison Cloud,\u2019 \u2018Beast Claw,\u2019 \u2018Dragon Maw\u2019 and more. There are also \u2018Intelligence\u2019 build users that use a lot of spells, but personally, I\u2019m a huge fan of lightning.<\/p>\n

Alongside various spells, your character also has access to cool weapons. One, based on the Demigod Godrick the Golden, is just the head of a dragon placed on my fist. Another weapon I use often looks like cursive letters written in a bright light that magically tethers to my fist. Attached to these cool weapons are \u2018Ashes of War\u2019 that give you access to a special attack that uses your weapon. Some Ashes of War are exchangeable among your weapons. For instance, I have a mace that uses an Ash of War that shoots a blade of holy light against enemies. This Ash of War can be applied to all maces, swords and daggers, whereas my Demigod Ash of War is exclusive to that weapon.<\/p>\n

And if your spells, weapons and Ashes of War don\u2019t work, there are always Spirit Ashes \u2014 collectible spirits of dead enemies that you can equip. You can summon them in battle whenever there\u2019s a Spirit Ash symbol in the bottom right corner. When you see that icon, typically around bosses or mini-bosses, you can summon your Spirit to assist you in battle. Unfortunately, you can only use it once before you rest at your Site of Grace, which keeps the game pretty fair. There are a variety of Spirit Ashes to choose from and after completing specific missions you\u2019ll be able to level them up to fight against stronger enemies.<\/p>\n

Dark Souls difficulty<\/h2>\n

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After spending about 25 to 30 hours with Elden Ring,<\/em> I still find the game incredibly difficult. As I previously mentioned, I was able to travel to different areas of the map that I wasn\u2019t necessarily ready for. However, even in the level 40 range, I\u2019m still finding plenty of areas challenging. Whether it\u2019s bosses, mini-bosses or just random enemies, I definitely need to jump several levels before I\u2019m ready to take on certain tasks I\u2019ve encountered.<\/p>\n

The game is full of enemy types, from dragons to knights, demi-humans, giant bears, weird octopuses, sirens, and several more. Sometimes, you\u2019ll see recurring enemy types, but they typically feature slightly different designs, new abilities and hit a lot harder.<\/p>\n

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I know that I haven\u2019t seen all the bosses yet, but so far I\u2019ve encountered stone cats, dragons with four wings and use red lightning, a ghost in a boat that summons skeletons, a bull-like creature, a firey fox and many more.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, for those concerned about how difficult Elden Ring<\/em> is, the game lacks an adjustable difficulty setting like other Dark Souls titles. In terms of other FromSoftware titles,\u00a0Elden Ring<\/em> is definitely not the hardest (that goes to\u00a0Demon\u2019s Souls\u00a0<\/em>or\u00a0Sekiro<\/em>),\u00a0<\/em>but it seems more challenging than\u00a0Bloodborne <\/em>or Dark Souls III<\/em>. I think beginners can definitely get more enjoyment from this game than some of the other titles; you just have to be smart about certain things. In the first two minutes of the game, you\u2019ll encounter a boss wandering the lands. For me, I decided to tackle this boss 30 levels later because I didn\u2019t want to deal with the frustration of having to take it on immediately. The game is full of a lot of optional bosses and enemies you can run past, allowing you to circle back and face them when your character is stronger.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also worth noting that, unlike other FromSoftware games, I\u2019m finding that I don\u2019t need to take as many frustration breaks. Elden Ring<\/em> is very fair and the more you practice, the better you\u2019ll become at the game.<\/p>\n