Ron322

322 Crew, since 1:30pm yesterday, I had been taking profound, universe-sized breaths to ponder how to write this entry — especially after 213 hours of suffering, battles and triumphs in The Lands Between of Elden Ring. There’s simply just a lot I can dump into this but bear with me as I’ll do my best to make it direct but worth the read.

At the start of it all, my only objective was simply to beat the game and become Elden Lord. Initially, that was all that mattered to me…until getting some weapons and spirit ashes that would be entangled with quest lines that would alter my fate’s course.I went from wanting to be simply Elden Lord to wanting to unearth the mystery of Ranni due to defeating Radahn setting the stars free and the mystery that was the sudden disappearance of Fia, which lead to the Deeproot Depths to understand what became of Godwyn’s soulless body. The result was, as Clay Morrow in Sons Of Anarchy would say, “Be prepared for a truth you may not like”.

The Shattering that set this whole story in motion was triggered by the murder of Godwyn’s soul by the Black Knife Assassins. What I didn’t know was that simultaneously above in a Divine Tower…Ranni’s body was murdered with her soul roaming inside a doll body. I couldn’t help being compelled to unearth the mystery and as I discovered the aftermath of Godwyn’s body and how his soulless body has affected the Erdtree roots and its contaminating of the Lands Between, the more I felt inclined to spite the Greater Will with the Cursemark of Death after slaying the Elden Beast. In also learning of how Ranni wanted to end the Greater Will’s grip on the world, it also had me swayed into altering my course of being just another Lord for Marika. Thanks to backup saves, I made sure to get both endings. In pursuing the exploration of the Haligtree of Miquella, I found myself despising the Greater Will (and Marika) even more and fueled my ambition to spite them even further (after enduring the hellacious suffering that is fighting Malenia, of course). If you’re giddy enough (which I wasn’t), pursuing the Frenzied Flame ending would be the ultimate, “to hell with everyone” route of the whole game.

This game was the 1st FromSoftware game I ever laid my hands on and got bitchslapped by in the process. As I may have stated in my last blog regarding Elden Ring, this game taught me the meaning of suffering and learning change. I started as a meager hero with a shield and axe to a Morningstar with a Jellyfish summon in my aid to running around with Heavy Greatsword Berserk Guts style (Kukri knives included) to a Mohg Spear w/Serpent Bow & Arrow to swapping the Zamor, Mohg Spear and Rivers of Blood w/Mimic Tear to an endgame build using Tiche as a summon and my ace in the hole against the Beast is Rivers Of Blood. While many gamers do the typical mage build, I chose one of the harder routes of victory for this game and yet the payoff was stellar.

If I had to gripe on any shortcomings, it’s how short the endings are compared to the massive hell you have endured but the sense of conclusion is what makes up for that. You almost feel like your life can move on from there. The graphics on PS4 does have moments of graphical texture pops but beyond that, it’s easily the most beautiful game on the platform. The soundtrack…it’s on my iPhone to listen to when going for walks or heading to work, that is all that needs to be said. As for replay value? If you’re returning to NG+ in order to give most of the game’s bosses your full wrath with your newfound stats, weapons, spells and armor, it’s all switched on. If not, let’s just pray that FS wows us with a DLC announcement.

The lesson of perseverance leading to eventual victory is the biggest takeaway from this. There have been bosses that made me pull hair from my face in frustration for almost 2 weeks figuring out where I’m screwing up but when finally beating them, it’s better than making love! Learning to dive into secrets for the truth is also something that really got me in terms of how it will shape or warp the course of your personal journey in the game. I also learned to appreciate the learning of lore via Sherlock Holmes style — reading description of armors, spells, weapons and even observing environment. If you dig that in the world of Arkham Batman games, then this game adds that tenfold.

I’m officially drained due to the game itself but hopefully this weekend, I’ll stream the season premiere of Final Fantasy VII as I promised. Until next time, be excellent to each other and party on, dudes!