Elden Ring (DLC hype room)

[frozen olive]

doing exactly what Marika did in eschewing all virtues and ideals in pursuit of godhood i feel

[gray leaf]

Ranni's approach might do that... but as the Hornsent showed, bereft of any god to answer their prayers, people will do horrible things to create one.

[frozen olive]

the fact that Miquella even tried to use the same path to ascension as the progenitor of the golden lineage and order who he so hated and attempted to shed

[gray leaf]

True. Miquella wanted to take a wicked source and separate it from its past and use it for good, and that arguably isn't possible. But if it isn't, what does that say about things guided by the spawn of Metyr, who was abandoned and discarded, or about the reality created and guided by the Greater Will itself, which abandoned its child?

[frozen olive]

nothing good i imagine

again this is why i consider the Age of Stars as simply hope

it's simply throwing in your lot with the hope for a better future

which is something i feel it inherited from the Age of Dark from Dark Souls

notably compared to Dark Souls, there is still possibility for a better future even without it

even if the Age of Stars doesn't happen things could still improve with some luck

Age of Dark is kind of, the only gambit left that isn't throwing yourself in the fire and prolonging the slow demise of the world

[frozen olive]

gotta say, really appreciated discussing this topic

has been very fun

[gray leaf]

Me too for what it's worth.

[frozen olive]

👍

lovely to hear

[cinder jay]

Even moreso Aldia's ending in Dark Souls 2 mayhaps, which it does have some other strong parallels to; a relative to royalty disgraced who sees the cycle as flawed and wishes to break it in some way, eventually beckoning you to leave in pursuit of what lies beyond.

With the difference being that Elden Ring combines this with a more overt creation of a new world in your wake, you even if it'll be shaped by someone else's hands. This aspect positions it rather closely to the classic Soulsborne ending of a world anew (or given a second chance).

[feral linden]

https://tenor.com/view/divine-beast-dancing-lion-chinese-gif-4174130116572748164

Saw a dragon dance inna mall this fine cny morning and i was Reminded

[timid valve]

Decided to play Elden Ring randomizer again today
Was reminded why I quit last time

Merging mods is such a pain

On the positive side, I tried blocking an enemy with the permanent deflection tear mod and I A-posed and got hit anyways, so that was hilarious

[proven cloak]

yeah, its very thematically tied to embracing a sort of death, and going into the cold dark you'll never return from

which does make it a good follow from the Golden Order

[languid tiger]

i have been recompelled to do more elden ring playthroughs, despite my broken controller

L bozo, always morally correct to annihilate him

i don't want your ancient dragon smithing stone, i want my...maybe 2k runes lmao

[median rock]

i like not being babyjailed in that one room if i try to go in there

[languid tiger]

that one too

yay, yippee

my favorite weapon

[frozen olive]

yay

[frozen olive]

it's once again hubris time

[onyx trench]

Get 'im!

[frozen olive]

genuinely less hubris than expected

this is like

genuinely doable

[onyx trench]

Yeeee

[frozen olive]

i may have gotten good at these games actually from playing all of them

[onyx trench]

Perish the thought

Making me consider starting a new save 🙃

[frozen olive]

this is my 1v1 boss run

i used summons a decent bit while going through the game the first time

i'm going to skip Malenia and PCR though

i did actually 1v1 both of them

gotten a lot better at stamina management

i could do like two to three attacks per full stamina bar in Demon Souls so i had to work on it while playing that

ok stunned him twice now lol

man i can stun him pretty easy

[onyx trench]

Yeah, he's pretty easy to stagger

Square Off is also a little bit good

[obtuse halo]

When I was good at elden ring (before any rustiness from not playing for a while), there were multiple times I went and beat up margit first try without bothering to level up or change out any of my starting equipment

aside from maybe removing Vagabond's starting halberd for medium roll

[median rock]

shoutout high depths quitters who try to run the most fucked up route known to man and then DC after dying while failing to kill red castle bosses at lvl 7 (the rev here, the raider was following her around and dying more because he was melee)

if you're going to try to run cool tech routes, use one of the many storm circle/map viewers before convincing yourself its OK to die in the storm night 1 and just abandon 80k runes

[frozen olive]

yeah this was doable

[median rock]

i like how the camera angle looks like you're wearing his head as a trophy

[frozen olive]

kinda does yeah

wife :)

[plush cliff]

wife :3

[median rock]

wife meets a random exile soldier from stormveil castle

[frozen olive]

lvl7 wretch

[median rock]

it's just that this lvl 7 wretch looks suspiciously like a deserter from godrick's legions....

[frozen olive]

this level 7 wretch is very adept a the one blade discount

a subsidiary of the five finger discount

[real shadow]

https://www.phixiv.net/en/artworks/141953495

Leda by (@Chronozbergh)

Leda
#traditional, #Traditional, #Elden Ring, #ELDENRING, #Fromsoftware, #Needle Knight Leda, #Miquella

https://github.com/thelaao/phixiv · Mar 5, 2026, 4:40 PM

[atomic plinth]

Y'all reckon this fit is any good

[obtuse halo]

nothing fancy but it works

[frozen olive]

looks nice

[frozen olive]

wow

Mad Tongue Alberich got owned by wild strikes

[obtuse halo]

it's a good Ash!

[frozen olive]

using impaling thrust rn on Partisan

i have put like 15 points in strength and 2 in dex so my statline is diabolical

everything but those stats is at 10

[median rock]

i love npc stunlock ashes of war

sometimes they're independently good ashes of war, sometimes they're useless, but stunlocking a NPC is always funny

[frozen olive]

lowkey gonna respec into faith when the time comes to fight gideon so i can grab his stupid head and madness beam him

highlight of my playthrough

[frozen olive]

damn

genuinely impressed myself a lil

managed to beat the stupid thing first try

which with my stats is pretty good

got my heavy partisan +2

maybe i did get good

guess i got Godrick up next

[frozen olive]

Godrick down

lvl 21, kinda fun honestly going into things a bit underleveled and just skilling it out

the GOAT 🙏

ok i should probably explore limgrave now

[frozen olive]

welp Nepheli is just completely AWOL

no wait she just has two locations woops

depraved perfumer my beloathed

[frozen olive]

not having ranged options does change how i play a decent bit

[frozen olive]

hmm wavering a bit on what weapon i wanna use

kinda wanna have multiple weapons but i keep defaulting to just using one

[obtuse halo]

I kind of have Athame "Caster" in my backlog of build ideas

carry a bunch of daggers with various ashes of war to produce a caster skillset by swapping them out as needed.

[frozen olive]

👀

[obtuse halo]

okay I finally got around to playing some nightreign

good time, went on two expeditions, had no idea what I was doing but followed my friends around for the sake of navigation

we won both, though I kind of had to carry the second day 3 boss (they both got rekt multiple times)

[frozen olive]

nice

[obtuse halo]

Ordovis' Greatsword is really good if you can find an opening to use its special

[frozen olive]

man i have not played Nightreign in a while

i pretty much exclusively played Revenant when i was playing though

[median rock]

rev got hella buffed now that you can start bestial incants from the jump

likely unironically better than recluse a lot of the time now, if you've got the relics to force beast claw start + start bestial incants/physical attack

since seals are a lot more gambly than spells it makes a huge difference to not have to rely on RNG. ive got a beast claw rev build with some meh relics, a giant's flame (o flame start) build with much stronger relics, and a dragon cult (lightning spear start) with some pretty great relics - and beast claw is wayyy better than all of them just bc the incant is that strong lol

its the rev stars of ruin / comet / shattering crystal but more fp efficient and better range and better damage :)

[frozen olive]

cool

when i played Revenant was not good

and yeah seal rng is fucking dogshit

[obtuse halo]

I just played Wylder and pilebunkered bosses

Haven’t tried anyone else yet

[frozen olive]

i really like Revenants "whatever, go my Sebastian" ability

so i played her only

also her lore is

genuinely really fucking cool and neat

[proven cloak]

I like that she's kind of an asshole. love that for her.

she's just randomly mean to the other characters sometimes lmao

[median rock]

deep of night also got a buff for her summons at the same time, which was nice. they now last approx 3 attacks instead of 1 attack, which is really all you need/want

mostly just so she won't be weirdly Less Good in DoN

[frozen olive]

nice

[median rock]

executor also got a much needed buff and his parry is actually good now <3 (no longer drains stam on perfect parry is the biggest part)

[frozen olive]

yay

[frozen olive]

i didn't even fucking make it to castle morne yet dawg

[obtuse halo]

lmaoo

[languid tiger]

that's what happens when you hit liurnia first

[obtuse halo]

also nice to see the banished knight helm getting some play

[frozen olive]

swapped out the exile armor

think scale fit a bit better

[frozen olive]

farmed one of the banished knights in stormveil for some armor pieces

[obtuse halo]

the scale chest is really underrated drip too

[frozen olive]

using the partisan as my main weapon but i thought i'd go with a sword and shield for a secondary setup when i need speed

the partisan is slow af and not good for dealing with multiple faster enemies

[obtuse halo]

Partisan is what I used as a carry until I got SONAF on my second playthrough

it's just a good weapon and it's nice among spears because you can slash with it

[frozen olive]

i'm lvl 32 now since i beat Godrick so i'm a lil overleveled

for this area at least

i was lvl 21 when i beat godrick

[obtuse halo]

definitely, weeping peninsula is really a pre-stormveil area

you're meant to do it early and there's a bunch of flask upgrades there

[frozen olive]

i kinda wanted to test my skill on Margit and Godrick

beat Margit at lvl 4 and Godrick at lvl 21

[obtuse halo]

Fuck yeah.

[frozen olive]

thinking i'll try to go in a bit underleveled for all major bosses

[obtuse halo]

I got jumped yesterday by Morgott playing Nightreign. I don't think he even touched me

[frozen olive]

cause generally speaking i tend to go in pretty overleveled just cause i l ike to go for a lot of different stats

[obtuse halo]

that's just a moveset I know by heart and I've done comically underleveled many times

[frozen olive]

mhm

i've only really done it once

but it was pretty nice honestly

a lot of fun

i got a bit impatient with exploring limgrave which is why i went for Godrick immediately

[obtuse halo]

TBH I really like summoning Melina for morgott even though she mostly just makes the fight harder

it's just cool to have her around

unfortunately it makes him harder to predict and while she's not useless (actually she plays support very well if you stay in range of her heals) she's not a powerhouse either

[frozen olive]

😔

i think imma try keeping this like

knight look

[frozen olive]

trying to parry kill leonine misbegotten

man i do not like parrying

ok i managed it

[real shadow]

Crescent moon axe to the dome tends to remove the need for parrying, I learned.

[frozen olive]

my friends bet me to do it and it was not worth it

i could have easily just killed it with my sword or partisan

[fleet bronze]

One of the greatest environmental reveals in gaming tbh

Going down that elevator for the first time was incredible

[frozen olive]

yeah

[proven cloak]

I guess they really use their setpieces

well

[obtuse halo]

Trying some nightreign solos and it is very clear to me that either I'm much worse at this than I thought or the game is just not balanced around solos

I have yet to get past night 1 lol

[kind garden]

It’s not balanced right

[obtuse halo]

Yeah it seems like I mostly can't get past level 3 and too many things oneshot me to really progress past that point

Without getting better and just not getting hit at all ever anyway

The AI groups are less aggressive in solos but their damage is still very spiky.

[kind garden]

People have done it, I’ve seen it, but it’s kinda ridiculous

[obtuse halo]

Mostly I'm trying to teach myself navigation and, like, gain some familiarity with the terrain and movement so I'm not constantly lagging behind when playing with my friends like I was the other day

so at least I'm doing that

on my last attempt I got half of my HP bar removed by a curse and then the jerk who put it on me asked for three times the amount of runes I had to remove it

so I stabbed him and OH LOOK IT'S A NIGHTLORD ON DAY 1

spoiler alert I did not win

[median rock]

it's balanced but it's not balanced in the same way as trios

it's also a lot more miserable pre relic setups

[obtuse halo]

oh yeah I don't really have those yet

barely having relics, even

[median rock]

mostly the game is designed for mp and u can really tell when it comes to weapon passives/drops. you can do a whole run and find 2 purple weapons period if youre pathing isn't perfect

there's some pretty great self-sufficient builds you can get with just shop/boss relics, though. executor w/ caligo, pest relics (either 1, or both) can get a starting katana thats worth keeping to the end of the game

[obtuse halo]

okay cool I'm not just bad, the second I load into trios i kick ass

even with randos

they dumped their inventories on the ground at the end for the meme I guess

[frozen olive]

it's a thing

[obtuse halo]

I did most of the rescuing there, I went down exactly once because I misread a magma wyrm's move. Otherwise I mostly used Finale for safe revivals

[frozen olive]

nice

[obtuse halo]

and reprise is just nice in general, combos very well with ironeye's damage mark in both directions and generally adds a lot of partywide damage

the cooldown is fast enough that I'm realizing you shouldn't be precious with it, pretty much just use it anytime someone lands a big hit or even a lot of hits, you don't need to wait for a big moment

[frozen olive]

kinda wann play nightreign a bit now

[median rock]

note that reprise cannot reprise mark pops

common misconception people have for some reason. i think it was classic fextra misinfo for a while. reprise damage contributes to mark but the mark pop itself doesn't replay

(also, afaik reprise damage isnt BUFFED by mark, but it'll replay including the 15% buffed damage dealt if mark was active 3 seconds ago)

[obtuse halo]

oh that's good to know

so better to use it before the mark pops to actually pop it

[median rock]

yep

you can track mark progress by the color as well. its hard to see at first but it gets darker as it takes dmg, and itll flash for ~2 seconds when its about to time out & expire

[real shadow]

https://www.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/s/yWBL0YLyqz

[frozen olive]

excellent

[frozen olive]

tried to fight Niall, did not work

straight up rotting it

[frozen olive]

https://giphy.com/gifs/crying-praying-man-Vx79UaZvjA4BAyA9qi

my boy

[frozen olive]

dragonslayer status obtained

[frozen olive]

summon great jar spirit
full crucible knight armor
moonveil and rivers of blood

i'm gonna do this offline

[frozen olive]

got the banished knight greatsword

it is

genuinely surprisingly quick

its moveset is also like

really fucking cool?

if you two-hand it, whenever you light attack is goes into like

a stance between attacks

like a proper martial sword stance from a manual

does like

guards and shit

tempted to swap to it

[vestal night]

It's the DS2 greatsword moveset

[languid tiger]

the greatness that we've lost

how i miss you, ds2 crit animations

[glossy delta]

Ive unfortunately never been a fan of souls Greatswords because of the whole shoulder carry thing
I like curved Greatswords tho, they look cooler and the shoulder rest looks more natural for them

[frozen olive]

dog pope

found another river hole

ants

[proven cloak]

yeah that'll happen

[frozen olive]

got distracted doing other shit

got like, the whole of Caelid mapped out

looted a bit

on my way to Rennala now

gonnna go to Leyendell first though i think

quick detour in and out

i'm lvl 40 now should be fine

10 levels of vigor, i'm sure to be fine

no wait 20 levels

i started as Wretch

[proven cloak]

find secret ancient well to lost lands
ask spirit guide if it's creepy or wet
she laughs
"O, seeker of the Elden Ring, let not such ruins bar you from your duties righteous, but prove thineself worthy."
it's creepy AND wet

[frozen olive]

because i never start as anything but Wretch

438.3 hours of wretch gameplay

[proven cloak]

maybe a touch underleveled for Leyndell but imo it's better if you are a little underleveled

its a bit on the easy side otherwise

[frozen olive]

i was gonna go to Raya Lucaria

but i think i'll just sneak into Leyendell

[proven cloak]

eithers fine, 40s probably a bit over for Raya but it'd difficulty is more

"Do you do magic damage" or not

[frozen olive]

last boss i fought was the ancient spirit

before that was grafted man

[proven cloak]

I like the ancestor spirit

||funny deer||

[frozen olive]

look at this immaculate build

[proven cloak]

yeah that should work for Raya Lucaria lmao

wizards are weak to bonk 🙂‍↕️

[frozen olive]

i've got a +5 partisan and i'm not afraid to use it

[proven cloak]

you probably want a little more Vigor early on, if only because the scaling gets better as your weapon numbers do

but hp is always useful

just my opinion though, I've seen either work

[frozen olive]

i'm trying to be a bit underleveled this run

beat Margit at lvl 4 and Godrick at lvl 20

[proven cloak]

wew

I think my lowest Margit was like 7. or the one before it ||I'm not saying it||

whatever the starter warrior level is

[frozen olive]

mfw i'm fighting a demigod almost butt ass naked but then i remember, i'm her, so i win anyway

[proven cloak]

Margit's also nearly naked. it's only fair.

just two barely clothed swordpeople goin' at it, normal style. as Marika intended.

[late latch]

i think godrick deserves access to crucible magic

[obtuse halo]

I saw that for the first time the other day. Hilarious fight

[frozen olive]

watching a vid about Godwyn and man

i forgot how icky his model is

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpXUkCsBLAE

bro really mutated into something nasty

[late latch]

death being associated with stagnant water was a peak choice but jesus fucking christs the association hit godwyn like the Radagon Comet

[frozen olive]

yeahhh

[frozen olive]

Erdtree Avatar giving me the gamer rage

the big beam spam is so ass

ok got it

found a tower i can't open, lovely

i shall return

[frozen olive]

got a weapon upgrade

banished knights halberd +8 courtesy of Edgar

mmmmm yummy grapes

[late latch]

i usually fight them on horses when i can

makes it easier to avoid the spam

[frozen olive]

man trying to like

keep questlines in mind

and it's kinda wacky cause i wanna disjointedly progress

but i also kinda wanna do some quests

decided i will be going to Raya Lucaria rather than Leyndell

but i won't be leveling until i beat Rennala

[real shadow]

https://bsky.app/profile/orc.bsky.social/post/3mh2ujoxgec2q

The Joy 🐇 (@orc.bsky.social)

lizzzard girl

Reposts

939

Likes

3562

Bluesky · Mar 15, 2026, 2:11 AM

[frozen olive]

Rya got that gamer chair posture

[obtuse halo]

god she's so perfect

[signal harness]

I love how her quest end reward is a charm which makes you take more damage with no upside

https://tenor.com/view/i-dont-really-want-this-alan-smiling-friends-smiling-friends-mr-boss-smiling-friends-smiling-friends-meme-gif-6096903127096658372

[frozen olive]

lmao

fighting Loretta ghost

gonna find my wife

[proven cloak]

true & real of the Nightreign devs to give it to him

[proven cloak]

I think its a neat worldbuilding detail to have the source of the only rivers in the Lands Between also be the roots of the big-life-tree-thing

like the water springs forth from the same source as the tree roots, pure Life

very mythic

also underlines how fucked up it is for Godwyn to be squatting right over them with death juice

[late latch]

they what

[obtuse halo]

"Grafted Monarch" can appear as a night 1 boss; it's Godrick, but with a few additions to the moveset, including the possibility of whipping out a crucible knight style tail attack

[proven cloak]

& the tail is a bunch of crucible grafted tails together. its sick.

Got the horn-shoulder-charge too, with grafted horns

[obtuse halo]

oh I didn't see that when I fought him, that's fun

[proven cloak]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PttMhx-hnU

here's some looks at the model

go go gadget magic mutagenic growth

it was probably at least partially because they couldn't do the dragon transition for phase 2 without its cutscene

so they gave him other sauce instead

[proven cloak]

My favorite easy-to-miss detail in the bosses that got brought back for NR is in Morgott's phase change:

base game he doubles over coughing, and then groans and leans back as all the energy just bursts out

even insults you right after about how you did this, you brought out the curse

NR he's way more expressive with it, raising his arm sky-high and then dragging it back as a fist. Less fighting the power, and more calling it forth and then channeling it.

combined with the blood sword and adding in the red fire attacks with the gold?

Gives off the vibe that NR Morgott is much more at peace with his curse than ER

[median rock]

i also like the morgott "i hate you in particular" mechanic from nightreign

[proven cloak]

Its at least something he uses as a weapon readily, instead of holding it back even mid-fight

[median rock]

which is half lore focused and half "we understand that this guy would be fucking MISERABLE if he could change aggro"

[obtuse halo]

I've only seen Morgott once in NR and it was on literally my first expedition where I was much more focused on AAA WHAT IS HAPPENING than details

[median rock]

the way the boss/map pools work is kinda weird

not every nightlord can roll every boss or every event

[proven cloak]

its so funny he sometimes just shows up with a "fuck you in particular"

[obtuse halo]

mind you we still wiped the floor with him, it's just Morgott, that's a moveset I know by heart

[median rock]

it's just. not possible, there's only (base game) 20 normal maps + 5 for each shifting earth for each nightlord, totalling 40

and so like walking maus is only caligo/augur iirc

[proven cloak]

I dont know if I've ever seen a walking maus in NR

does it give a weapon dupe?

[median rock]

yep

[obtuse halo]

the wiki says he can appear as a night 2 boss, huh. He appeared as a raid when I saw him

[median rock]

its like 1 or 2 caligo normal seeds, and maybe 1 or 2 normal augur

and one rotten woods augur seed?

[obtuse halo]

god, fuck the rotten woods

[proven cloak]

Its kinda fun if you're already stacked, just miniboss after miniboss

but its the least interesting geopgraphically

[obtuse halo]

I swear the night 2 circle is evil. literally always traps you there, in a spot with no buds to clear the rot

[median rock]

...

the blessing gives rot immunity

[obtuse halo]

what blessing

[proven cloak]

one of the blooming buds gives the Blessing Of The Rotted Woods or whatever

[obtuse halo]

oh okay sure

i'll keep an eye out I guess

[proven cloak]

rot immunity + malenia great rune (+ extra hp in general?)

[obtuse halo]

one more knowledge check

[proven cloak]

its a little more annoying to find than the other blessings, but all the shifting earths have one

I think it can appear a few places in the woods, and I don't know them

It also- I havent seen this in game, just heard about it- is uniquely disabled by the Nightlord with Rot.

like the boss fucking eats the blessing outright. It just takes it away from you.

[median rock]

sorta

it eats rot immunity, leaves the hp and i think the rally

[median rock]

the giant orange mark on the map marks the fort there always

check the table in the fort upstairs, it'll mark the blessing

[proven cloak]

I like the mountain, even if it's a little barebones in places

it's just sick as fuck to climb a mountain!

I yearn to get lost on the slopes and die to the day 2 storm in my greed and my arrogance

[obtuse halo]

I've definitely been there

I've killed the one dragon for the anti-dragon effect on attacks, but not had any luck with the tougher dragon higher up

[median rock]

yeah i'd personally rank the mountain as the hardest if you don't konw where everythign is

noklateo (city) has arguably more complicated routing to do it all, but you can just do one side and follow the road. volcano is the same way, and rotten woods is pretty straightforward

but that mountain has like 3 different approach points with their own road

[hybrid perch]

Im searching for a fun build atm cuz I started a new seamless game with two of my friends and I’m the only one who doesn’t know what I want to do. My one friend is doing Str/Faith because he wants to wield malikeths black blade and my other friend wants to try a dexterity build (this is like his second playthrough) I was thinking maybe something arcane but I really just want a fun build not a super strong one, I’d be super grateful if you guys could recommend me yours favourites or ones that you think are interesting

[median rock]

huh. fun executor relic, i guess, maybe. if night of wise + miasma wasn't just probably better?

anyway, made it back to depth 5 after tilt deranking to depth 3 while trying to actually learn executor, and from like halfway through depth 4 on i only queued while at least tipsy

[median rock]

maliketh's black blade isn't very easy to get early in the game - are you dropping it/grabbing it from another save, or are they just going to run str/faith for the first 90% of the game?

for arcane if you want a somber weapon, there's not a ton available early - varre's bouquet is fun if you're OK with just rushing mohg medal and doing varre invasion immediately

morgott's cursed sword is great but it's like mostly dex, secondary arcane. most of the other cool arcane weapons do tend to be dex/arc overall

[hybrid perch]

He’s js gonna do str/faith ti then

[hybrid perch]

I see

[median rock]

an ash i really like that's not a bleed build, but is an arcane ash - spectral lance

[hybrid perch]

I don’t want to do too much dex because I want my friend to feel special when he does dex because he’s new and all

[median rock]

it's from the scarab in raya lucaria right after the entrance so you can get it really early, and it goes on spears/great spears/halberds, so it's a bit more str/arc

[hybrid perch]

That’s where you throw a like a ghost spear or something right

[median rock]

yep

a lot of fun. there's also ice spear from night's cav in liurnia, which is basically the same thing but with less damage and (obviously) frost buildup

both of them are super fun to use

[hybrid perch]

I mean that sounds interesting and I was thinking about maybe running a frost build

For the debuff

[median rock]

then i'd probably suggest like - night's cav halberd + ice spear ash, or something like that

night's cav halberd is from the night's cav on the road by bellum church (from the raya lucaria exit up to dectus lift) and the ice spear ash is from the night's cav patrolling the road like halfway up liurnia on the east/right side

[hybrid perch]

I genuinely don’t know what to do for early game mostly that’s like my biggest issue atm, later I can respec and try out new stuff

[median rock]

both pretty easy to get early, and as a bonus you can put on the night's cav armor later in the game and be dripped up

[hybrid perch]

We haven’t even beaten Morgott yet but I think we’ll get there reasonably quickly

[median rock]

margit you mean?

[hybrid perch]

Ye

Mb

[median rock]

but yeah you can probably just like. use whatever, kill margit, and then either kill godrick or just go get those right then

lol

[hybrid perch]

Is there a weapon you think is very underrated early on

Or something rarely used

[median rock]

golden halberd is also a decent early game pickup

honestly maybe that one, especially given the golden vow ash is nice for playing w friends

[hybrid perch]

I’ll keep that in mind

I feel like I honestly just did too much of one thing like I never properly explored some builds but looked lots into faith/arc and strength

[median rock]

it says it's str/faith but it's mostly just str and it can't be infused. golden vow ash is ~+10% more damage dealt / less damage taken, lasts for 45 seconds and works in an aoe around you as the caster

so you can pop it at the start of the fight and then maybe again while somebody's getting a riposte

[hybrid perch]

Then my friend will probably use it if he doesn’t use the cipher pata

[median rock]

its OK at best lategame, there are better options

(it doesn't scale very highly with any stat, and you can put the ash on other things later if you find it)

[hybrid perch]

Im doing the reposting with daggers atm because I’m the only one who has a dagger

But alright I’ll def keep an eye out for the halberd

[median rock]

scythes are also cool. i had a ton of fun w/ the grave scythe (random skeleton drop) and phantom slash a while ago

i'm assuming you're on PC because you're using seamless coop? lmk if you want me to drop you anything, i have a full inventory of basically every weapon at +0

[hybrid perch]

I was gonna farm skeletons for my friend anyway

For the curved sword

[median rock]

and it'll probably be faster than you farming it

[hybrid perch]

Yep we are and thanks for the offer

[median rock]

which curved sword from skeletons?

[hybrid perch]

The bandit curved sword I think it’s called

[median rock]

grossmesser?

ahh

[median rock]

ok, loaded up my old ER save to check - yeah ive got 2 bandit curved swords and an extra grave scythe/nightrider glaive, all at +0. i've got seamless coop already, lmk if you want em. its easy to drop items, since i can just drop em + reload my save to get em back anyway

[hybrid perch]

I’ll ask my friend if he wants to grind for the curved swords or not but thanks for your offer

[median rock]

sg

[frozen olive]

watching this vid

and apparently Revenants harp thing is just

straight up in Elden Ring as unused content

or was at some point

https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkx0rwptnbFk9v4ktftoH424zrh9i_IrHS1?si=OK5W-4x7y7PxWSg7

that is just straight up her summoning animation

[frozen olive]

became a carian spellsword upon killing Loretta

added Loretta's Slash to my Banished Knights Halberd, Carian Grandeur to my Lordsworn Straight sword and carian retaliation to my shield

very lordly

frankly i'm a bit of a shit knight

but i have a sword, a shield, a halberd, and some plate armor

[frozen olive]

nvm Loretta's slash magic damage scales off int regardless of affinity so it's kinda pointless for me to use it

back to impaling thrust

[frozen olive]

having a lot of fun with the idea that my current Tarnished is like

extremely fucking learned and accomplished as a sorcerer, and knows just a fuck ton of spells actually

but just doesn't use them

"I'm a knight, fuck kind of use do i have for magic" type shit

[frozen olive]

off to Leyndell

honestly just fucking questing rn

going to gelmir to get Sellens quest going

[frozen olive]

tried to fight surprise Margit

[frozen olive]

i have made the executive decision that since bestial sling is a spell i can use without leveling anything else i will be allowing myself to use it if i want to

however i will be limiting spell use to non boss stuff

still can't get the great jar arsenal charm

[frozen olive]

random idiot knight with pinpoint knowledge of the most advanced magics in the world

[median rock]

iirc nightreign has a couple other niche things that seem to be cut content from ER as well

godskin duo has an extra wake up attack, for example. in ER they've just got an extra attack ID with no attack associated, in nightreign it does that scream

[proven cloak]

ooo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7ZzQyS2ozg

I didn't catch the seahorse elements

wonder if that's a play on the myths of seahorses as baby / bastard dragons

with the big plant-like crucible dragon being, idk, the Elden Beast?

like this thing is a fucked up baser version of what a holy life-dragon would be, so it looks like a seahorse?

I read it as a big fetal leech

[median rock]

weirdly good caligo build: dual magma curved sword/other fire curved sword. turns out those powerstance jump attacks, just as good as they were in ER

[median rock]

neat video, thanks

[obtuse halo]

successfully beat the nightlord tonight 😌

so that's all of them, everdark sovereigns, dlc, and deep of night madness aside

[median rock]

wooo, congrats!

[median rock]

weird stat i found, nightreign tracks victories over bosses (i think its only victories, not all runs)

i have fought augur so much less than the others and i'm not 100% sure why. the majority of my playtime, lifetime, has been in DoN where its just random

and i've only ever really intentionally queued for heolster + the dlc ones bosses since i finished everybody's rememberances, besides that it was just an everdark of the week or random

it feels stupid to wonder but it makes me think there's adjusted odds in DoN or whatever. scrolling my run history ive gotten augur like twice in my last 50-60 runs

[frozen olive]

beat Glintstone dragon smarag

almost one-shot me with every single attack

i have really good damage but my healthbar leaves a lot to be desired

man Thops is just the greatest

[frozen olive]

managed to beat Eleonora

sick

she was one-shotting me with her incants since i'm at a severe level disadvantage so it was a tricky fight

[frozen olive]

found a sick ass AoW called Spectral Lance

but it's arcane scaling

[languid tiger]

you hadn't seen spectral lance before?

huh

[frozen olive]

nope

never seen it before

not once in 450 hours of playing

[languid tiger]

wild

i didn't think it was missable if you were doing raya lucaria

til

learning what assumptions you take for granted is always a bit of a trip

[obtuse halo]

yeah spectral lance is a neat arcane ranged option

it's totally missable in raya lucaria if you don't take the bottom path through the graveyard

you can just cross the bridge and never find it

very easy to do if you're running through because frankly that's the most annoying segment of raya lucaria

[frozen olive]

doing a str build so it's not like

tremendously useful for me

but it is cool

[obtuse halo]

there's one true ranged option for strength builds and it's ||the Jar Cannon, baybeeeeee||

[frozen olive]

lmao

[obtuse halo]

I actually got and used the one-eyed shield on a guardian run of nightreign a while back, which is kinda just jar cannon lite

got a surprising amount of use out of it blowing up crucible knights

since they're fire weak

[frozen olive]

i'm going for great thrusting swords for my weapon this run

[median rock]

spectral lance is goated

it + ice spear do crazy damage for how quick they cast

[median rock]

really wish i could queue great hollow with a non dlc boss :(

[obtuse halo]

oh I got gifted the dlc today

[median rock]

woooo

time to experience "erdtree: but what if it was black and spooky"

[obtuse halo]

My main experience so far was ||a surprise duel with a dlc nightlord with only base gear||

It could have gone better

[median rock]

ahh lmao for nightreign not ER. idk why i assumed u meant ER

congrats tho. enjoy undertaker and/or scholar

undertaker is super fun and cool, scholar isnt my personal vibe but ive never met a scholar player who didn't look sick while they were doing stuff

id recommend either looking up a guide for the new map (like just "what is where and what does this do") or finding friends/randoms who actually know a route and trying to learn that. its a lot easier than it seems at first, but its still super easy to get lost on the bottom layer (i never go underneath if i can help it, there's nothing super good except when big merchant there)

[obtuse halo]

Oh I have absolutely been sticking to friends like glue for the most part lol

I'm slowly learning stuff but the routing does not come to me easily

that said I just had a solo delve go surprisingly well, it was originally a sacrificial run to do a remembrance but I actually made it to night 3 and got through a decent amount of the boss' healthbar

Phase 2 is, uh. considerably tougher solo than in trios

I didn't really learn the moveset the first couple of times I did this fight tbh because you can kinda just bully them? but uh, you really gotta to not die solo

As a sidenote guardian skill is weirdly nice in solo just for being an extremely quick trash mob wipe

They’re worth an appreciable amount of souls with the boosted numbers so pressing the kill button as you run past can be appreciable boost without much time loss

[median rock]

some bosses care more about their weakness than others. id argue tricephalos is worth using holy nearly no matter what tbh

helps make phase 2 quicker, since they'll reform after taking enough dmg

[obtuse halo]

I was mostly focused on surviving in phase 2 tbh, didn't get a lot of damage windows in

[median rock]

yeahh. its rough sometimes

[obtuse halo]

aside from using the ultimate, anyway

since there's no one else to keep up I basically just used it for the damage

since it's completely unpunishable

[median rock]

what character?

[obtuse halo]

Oh, Guardian

[median rock]

guardian?

yeah makes sene

[obtuse halo]

specifically when split up, anyway, phase 2 gladius isn't that much worse when they're together

[median rock]

i appreciate that nightreign has a relatively detailed codex for your run stats

there's some things that'd be nice to have but like, just small things like "time spent actually in runs vs on this save file" is nice

[frozen olive]

this mfer carian knight knows how to parry

my healthbar is not built to survive criticals

unironically harder so far than fighting the red wolf of radagon

throwing rocks was the solution

moon mommy

[frozen olive]

she's got hands bruh

[obtuse halo]

moongrum is famously a fairly tough miniboss yeah

I only fight him fair if I'm really in the mood though, it's laughably easy to bait him into dying to the elevator

[frozen olive]

I threw rocks at him until he dropped his shield

then i hit him with piercing fang

[obtuse halo]

piercing fang is unblockable, isn't it?

[frozen olive]

yes

[obtuse halo]

though I guess it's probably parriable

[frozen olive]

it is

and if he parried i died

[median rock]

kick is funny on him

[obtuse halo]

This! is! Liurnia!

[proven cloak]

more time goes on the more I unironically love her goofy ass hat

[obtuse halo]

it's goofy but it really is some instantly iconic art direction

[frozen olive]

she makes it work tbh

i played one of those big mods before and got to her and they gave her like

a lil tiara

and it genuinely just looked bad compared to her hat

[glossy delta]

I can't see Renalla as wearing anything but the silly hat but also I don't think Renalla or the glintstone wizards like
Really Are supposed to look cool
It's all over the top peacock feathers to indicate status

[frozen olive]

from the Convergence mod

i uninstalled it after seeing this i wanna remember

[glossy delta]

A lot of Dark Souls mods smack of this,

[frozen olive]

yeah

it looks stupid

[obtuse halo]

wow, that is so much worse

[frozen olive]

and it takes all her royal grandeur away

the moon hat is unironically quite regal on her

[obtuse halo]

this is basically the hire fans lol meme

[frozen olive]

precisely lol

[frozen olive]

they could not handle the regal style of the Last Queen of Caria, Rennala of the Full Moon, and the majesty of the night she conjureth

[real shadow]

Cowards not putting the tiara on top of her moon hat.

Have it dangling off the end.

[frozen olive]

https://tenor.com/view/oh-my-god-bruh-jjk-jujutsu-kaisen-higuruma-higuruma-hiromi-gif-3841012065452512308

that shit just don't work give her the fucking hat

it's a moon hat for the moon queen

[plush cliff]

It could be worse I guess?

[frozen olive]

maybe

but this also just feels kind of insulting, they turned her queenly regalia into a weird little tiara

[tropic stream]

It's because it looks 'goofy'

Not that you don't know that lol

but like ye they don't like it cuz it's a goofy hat their waifu wears

[proven cloak]

"Oh I want a wizard that doesn't dress weird and strange" a wizard with nothin'?

let her have the weird moonhat

[dusty kraken]

God the framing is just garbage without the extra height of the hat.

[proven cloak]

see, if you can't handle her at her ritualistic regalia then you don't deserve her at the 'come here my sweetlings'

[dusty kraken]

The top half the image looks way too empty

[feral linden]

if youre getting rid of the hat give her something to fill the void with
like Moon Presence/Nameless King-ass hair

flowing in the wind

[proven cloak]

I like that Rennala reflects the moon not just in how she dresses, but the way she's wrapped up around her 'sun', and how when he left he took her light with her

very mythic. Fitting for the moon lady.

[fleet bronze]

It's not just the hat, they've even messed with her proportions. She doesn't have as long a neck as she did before either

[obtuse halo]

yeah, shorter neck and smaller head

anyway Everdark Sovereign Adel BEAT

god what a ridiculous fight

scholar is a lot of fun

I had a friend walking me through the knowledge check bullshit

[frozen olive]

yup

[frozen olive]

gods forbid a woman have interesting proportions

[frail sky]

I was gonna mention how bad the scam garden of eyes version was but I forgot to
So here it is

[frozen olive]

wow

that's uh

terrible?

yeah

terrible

[frail sky]

Yeah

[glossy delta]

Garden Of Eyes in general looks like the DLSS 5 On version of Elden Ring yes

[late latch]

this is why i play convergence and ERR

[frozen olive]

i think Elden Ring is too like, not perfect as a game but too like

strong gameplay and visual wise

for overhaul mods to really work for me

[languid tiger]

is garden of eyes part of convergence or another mod?

i don't remember it from convergence

[charred ember]

What does it look like?

[frozen olive]

got em

[plush cliff]

It’s an entirely different thing

topple ↩️

[Reply to:](#1251763655578488872 message) is garden of eyes part of convergence or another mod?

[languid tiger]

gotcha, thanks

[frozen olive]

bro thinks he's winning lmao

[obtuse halo]

Wow I do not like the great hollow map

Some combination of being difficult to navigate compared to limveld and being packed full of DLC enemies

Like, don't get me wrong, I liked the DLC, but fighting these enemies at low level with minimal tools is significantly more difficult than most of the shit limveld throws at you

getting randomly frost disk'd from a mile away by those gravebirds is terrible, as is randomly losing half your HP as crystals grow on you?

Fire Knights may not have the sheer beefy math they do in the proper dlc but their movesets are also significantly more aggressive than most anything in the basegame

my group hasn't gotten past the night 2 boss yet, we keep dying to falls or some shit (because there's a LOT of places where you can misstep and just die, unlike limveld where that's mostly just the crevasse outside Noktaleo and the lava in Crater) and respawning on random ledges split up from one another.

[frozen olive]

thinking if i should finally level up now that i beat Rennala

i'm at lvl 40 rn and idk if i should stay a bit underleveled for Caelid or level up to 50

[median rock]

great hollow is SUPER punishing before you know what things are worth doing

i had the exact same thoughts on release

fast forward to when i know the actual routing, hands down my fave shifting earth

its worth sticking out i promise

(also, fire knight mini bosses are only worth knowing when u know which drop dormant powers, and even then once u can oneshot combo em)

[obtuse halo]

Balancers are pretty tough! my group TPK'd twice tonight, no win yet

phase 1 is easy, it's the second part that's rough

They're nominally weak to sleep but I'm not sure that actually makes the fight any easier unless your trios are well coordinated, since it's super easy to not notice and wake one up before they've even finished the falling asleep animation (before it's possible to crit them)

[median rock]

the trick is to just leave em asleep and not crit em

but yeah i personally haven't bothered too much. its not that helpful considering how few weapons do sleep, unless you roll a sleep ruin

[obtuse halo]

yeah we got a sleep ruin for that fight so we were all packing sleep weapons, and I was playing scholar with an executor and revenant

sleep was definitely happening!

at least the second time, first time I think we had to flee the ruin because of the night and not really knowing how to navigate it yet

incidentally I know the layout now after like three solo attempts getting lost in there looking for the scholar remembrance 😛

(I got it in the end)

[median rock]

scholar remembrance was a fascinating cursed experience

or maybe it was undertaker. whichever one involved the rafter climb....

[obtuse halo]

I definitely climbed some rafters but it didn't seem that bad

I enjoyed the little mini-dungeon!

nice change of pace from having to bumrush a random map point with a timer running

[obtuse halo]

Also this remembrance relic seems very solid

[tropic stream]

idk I'm... not immune to characters like Rennala but my reaction to people wanting her as a waifu is like

not getting it

so I then further don't get it

When people for whom she is waifu

Complain about the moon hat

lmao

[proven cloak]

(tbh same, mostly I just a little uncomfortably sad / lightly pitying about her.)

she's not... all there

[frozen olive]

i mean Rennala has very clearly had a mental break of some kind

[late latch]

she's not been in a clear state of mind for decades, i don't think there's all too much left

[frozen olive]

yeah

[obtuse halo]

For some reason I can't get the scholar or raider journals to progress past 5/5 and I don't know why 😐

it's not a mission stage, just one of the intermediate journal steps

er, 6/6 for scholar

[median rock]

i think its unspecified but you need to win a run as them? possibly a couple times?

like you just gotta keep doing runs as em, i don't know for sure if you gotta win but i'd assume so

[obtuse halo]

I've won a bunch as scholar! and a bit as raider too

I guess not since doing the last remembrance stage though?

[median rock]

yep

the remembrance doesn't need to be active for them, but when you win a run it'll give you that "memory fragment unlocked/found/retrieved" or whatever

[frozen olive]

not a big fan of ainsel river

[frozen olive]

i sure do love when bosses don't have hitboxes on all parts of their model

[frozen olive]

new weapon get

need to get used to the moveset

https://giphy.com/gifs/bleh-ah-eto-anime-s1tAtvJLIYiVWNaCqy

[frozen olive]

i'm just going offline and beating the great jar knights

[frozen olive]

i really need to get like

better talismans

[charred ember]

How is the hp so low?

[frozen olive]

?

20 vigor

[plush cliff]

Horrifying!

[charred ember]

How did you survive Caelid???

[frozen olive]

easily

piercing fang

[charred ember]

Ohhh

Okay

[frozen olive]

i'm also a little bit good at this game

[charred ember]

You may need a little more vigour for Radahn

[frozen olive]

this is more prepared than i was for Morgott tbf

[charred ember]

How often do you do bossfights?

[frozen olive]

have gotten pretty close

[frozen olive]

pretty close to eachother

defeated Rennala last time i played

added 5 levels so i could use the Great Èpèe

as with all gimmick bosses, it's much more fun to engage with the gimmick

[charred ember]

No I meant how often do you attempt them

[frozen olive]

idk, usually i try to fight them until i win or i gotta do something else, if i stop i usually won't start again until the next day since that helps with downloading the bosses moveset

having a bit more difficult than usual since i'm doing this with some pretty wacky leveling

[charred ember]

Downloading?

[frozen olive]

learning the moveset instinctively

don't need to think about when to dodge, i just know

[charred ember]

Neat?

[frozen olive]

just a way to get better at a fight

[frozen olive]

ok grabbed 5 levels of vigor

upgraded my eepy to +15 so it's a lil better

[proven cloak]

https://www.tumblr.com/hjinnnkuo/811583100350005248/thats-a-really-interesting-perspectivei-like-the

米菲保护组织志愿者

🔁 miirshroom

hjinnnkuo

I’ve seen many people interpret Elden Ring’s story from an astronomical perspective, but comparatively fewer from other academic angles. Recently, a friend of mine mentioned that Golden Order fundamentalism might represent something akin to a discipline like philosophy of science (while sorcery is closer to pure physics?). I found this idea quite convincing & interesting 🦔

Since I myself am a researcher in this area, I’ve always felt that fundamentalism, in its original form, would contain a substantial amount of mathematical logic. In particular, things like _Ramsey’s theorem_​ became, for quite a long time, part of my romantic imagination of what fundamentalism might be....

hjinnnkuo

That’s a really interesting perspective—I like the analogy you’re drawing between fundamentalism and forms of esotericism like early alchemy or astrology.

Personally, I tend not to interpret the concept of “Order” in Elden Ring from a mystical or occult angle. Mainly because, within the game’s setting, Order seems to govern the entire structure of the Lands Between—including what we might think of as its “physical laws.” Because of that, I’m more inclined to read it through the lens of something closer to natural science, or at least a system that aspires to that kind of universality, then understand the mystical qualities inevitably introduced by ER's divine framework through a perspective akin to naturalistic philosophy.

That said, I think your interpretation is really compelling, especially in how it frames fundamentalism as a system that uses the appearance of rigorous reasoning to reinforce pre-existing beliefs. I’m actually not very familiar with esotericism m...

Tumblr · Mar 20, 2026, 5:52 AM

interesting back and forth about interpretations of GO Fundamentalism

I think I lean towards the 'actually scholarly, and investigating physical laws' one, if only because I really like that ER does not spare any of the sorc-types in it's critique of doctrine.

It's not religion vs. atheism, it's fanatics all around. & the bookish fanatics just get weirder about it.

[frozen olive]

mfw i learn about the primordial current and my brain grows into a crystal and i die

[proven cloak]

Raya Lucaria looks down on demi-human magic, on 'bluntstones', they had a whole schism about if the Moon Was Cringe or The Current Was Cringe,

[frozen olive]

i mean

the Current kinda WAS cringe

we have like

very physical proof

[proven cloak]

I like that the top spells of Fundamentalism are logical precepts that the school builds off. "All things converge" or "All things are linked"

while all the top sorc spells are literally revelatory

wizards just be seeing shit!

[frozen olive]

or at least learning about it turned your brain into crystals and you fucking die

[proven cloak]

hey, maybe that is a better way to live

actually

I think glintstone in general might turn you to crystal

def for those miners, and some of the non-current wizards are looking a little

Might be cringe, but I like the Current! Primal wellsprings of life get an a-ok in my book.

[frozen olive]

i think it's pretty fair to ban Primordial Current research when like

either it makes you go insane

or you turn into crystals and die

[proven cloak]

yeah but you could say that for most things outside the Order, too

Deathroot sucks

the Frenzied Flame super sucks

[frozen olive]

ok but like

[proven cloak]

the persecution of 'dangerous' ideas isn't different, is the main thing

[frozen olive]

the Frenzied Flame should absolutely be fucking banned for reasons of it being actively trying to delete reality

[proven cloak]

Raya Lucaria is not really different from Leyndell, in that both are constructing human narratives to apply to the world, in an attempt to get meaning out of it

[frozen olive]

this is not a "we don't like this alternate theology" situation

the Frenzied Flame literally actively is trying to kill you and drive you insane

[frozen olive]

this is fair though

[proven cloak]

true but also banning it seems to cause it to spread more (sometimes).

idk the flame is weird

it is definitely Something to put "Heresy is not native, watch out for doctrines and the search for absolute evil" and then also "here are the Worst Guys who choose to be evil (ontologically)"

so I just tend to take the message of the former & not read too much into the fucking King In Yellow over there driving men to madness lmao

[proven cloak]

I think its not nothing that the other largest group of sorcerers, named as such in game, were the Hornsent Towerfolk

everybody doing some persecution

[languid tiger]

it's a shame that we never got hornsent sorceries

[proven cloak]

you start out going "Hey I found a cool underlying mechanism of the world that lets me throw out projectiles" and 10 spells in you've got 3 Idols and very strong opinions about people who Do It Wrong

[frozen olive]

it is really funny how it's like

x amount of groups trying to just do their own shit getting silenced by the government

and then with them is fucking Super Satan the hater who wants to obliterate all of reality and drives people insane for fun

[proven cloak]

might be something with how the FF is suicidal nihilism

[frozen olive]

probably

[proven cloak]

so doesn't really represent it's own perspective so much as a lack of one?

[frozen olive]

but yeah idk i don't really think there is anything evil about the Primordial Current per se

but i do think it's pretty reasonable to ban researching it when it keeps fucking with peoples minds and turning their brains to crystal and killing them

[proven cloak]

The moon is also a little ominous, described as 'bewitching' and 'enchanting'

not nearly as bad as death, but

[fleet bronze]

It's only cringe if you don't want to be crystals

[frozen olive]

it also made Sellen from this

into this

so i can like

understand their apprehension

[proven cloak]

there is another guy with the whole light=mental influence through beauty thing going on

[fleet bronze]

I think there is some articulation of the Primordial Current you could get into with devolving your own individual consciousness being a release/escape from samsara

[frozen olive]

probably yeah

[proven cloak]

I don't think it's necessarily malicious, or even agentic or anything. But it might be more than just a big rock, and it might influence people more than a big rock would.

[proven cloak]

I like it as a cosmic reflection of the crucible-stuff going on terrestrially

[frozen olive]

i think the Dark Moon is benevolent in the same way a person looking at ants in one of those see through ant colonies is benevolent

[proven cloak]

the Japanese name for The Current is also translatable as 'Source-waters', or what you'd call the origin of a spring

actually I think its literally the same word used for the Fountainhead in Sekiro? Might have to check that.

[frozen olive]

given the way that it's always portrayed as a kind of placid or like, detached outer god

i think it maybe doesn't care as much about whatever is going in in the lands between

[proven cloak]

the DGAF moon

[frozen olive]

which is why Ranni is seemingly ok with it despite it being an outer god that made her an empyrean

[fleet bronze]

Yeah, I think there's a big thing going on where the Scholars find the Primordial Current something to pursue in an intellectual sense but then are horrified by the reality of it contacting it and understanding it actually producing mindlessness rather than insight (at least, what they expect insight to look like)

[frozen olive]

which she notably hated enough to divest her soul from her body and kill her brother

[languid tiger]

no, that's just what sellen did on her own

she just really thought she was Him

she was not

[proven cloak]

its a bit speculative, but I read the wisdom of stone as effectively comprehension of the similarities of earth-life and space-life in the setting. You turn to crystal because you get that you're already stardust.

[languid tiger]

she kept turning people into orbs

[proven cloak]

just a kinda meaty, fleshy type

[frozen olive]

i mean regardless of Sellen being a fraud it did this to Azur and Lusat

[languid tiger]

and eventually turned herself and the masters into an orb, because she thought she would get it right this time

[frozen olive]

which we know they did not survive

[proven cloak]

god forgive a woman for ballin' smh 🙄

[languid tiger]

they didn't survive it because they got gooped with her

before then they were just chilling in seclusion

[proven cloak]

They're sorta still alive, I think

[fleet bronze]

I feel like this one of those Soulsborne cases of "survive" having different values depending on who you ask

[proven cloak]

actually I think their heads even say as much, which might be worse

[languid tiger]

do they think it's worse?

[frozen olive]

This crown replaced Lusat's brain and skull altogether, and now, removed from his body, it is all but dead. What power remains within raises the potency of Lusat's primeval current sorceries at the cost of additional FP consumption.

[languid tiger]

they were still alive to hand out their Sick Nasty Spells

yeah, removed from his body it's dead

[frozen olive]

is Founding Rain of Stars sick nasty?

[fleet bronze]

Like they stopped being wise sages and learned masters, but have they "died"?

[languid tiger]

founding rain of stars is good in pvp

[proven cloak]

mostly dead at least

thats good

[languid tiger]

or was

[proven cloak]

at least they aren't still in there?

when you're using it?

[frozen olive]

love using the primordial power of the cosmos to kill people by raining down stars on them

[fleet bronze]

I see it as very similar to some of the transformations you see with the Choir in Bloodborne

[frozen olive]

i

uh

i'm not sure you want to compare it to things happening in Bloodborne

[proven cloak]

literal truth-nuke

[frozen olive]

that's like

[fleet bronze]

Where people want to become elder gods but turn into slugs, but actually that's what the elder gods are actually

[frozen olive]

significantly worse

i could buy that Lusat and Azur would just be big chillin if you didn't fuck with them and they might just be entirely okay with that

[proven cloak]

just a bit grosser, but BB is pretty sympathetic to the Great Ones

[fleet bronze]

Lusat is like when the hunter turns into a funny little worm is what I'm driving at

[frozen olive]

but the Choir sort of just, mangled people for fun

[proven cloak]

imo, ER is pretty sympathetic to the aliens too

[frozen olive]

i'd say so yeah

[proven cloak]

yeah true

[fleet bronze]

Just so, the sorcerer's into the primordial current turn people into the Graven Balls or whatever they're properly called

[frozen olive]

Graven Mass

[proven cloak]

but even comprehending the cosmos in that game without doing horrible stuff starts growing all those eyes inside

is that a bad thing? Its gross, for sure

[frozen olive]

not just eyes

you get teeth in your brain

me personally

i don't really want teeth in my brain

i could maybe be chill with having crystal growing in my brain as some kind of enlightened cosmic transmogrification

[fleet bronze]

But the Choir is trying to get at something real, they're just bad at it because of their own moral cowardice and prejudices

[frozen olive]

but i really just don't want teeth and eyeballs in my brain

[proven cloak]

I mean it goes toward whether you think the truth is worth those sorts of sacrifices, or if preserving more comfortably human ideas of the world is more important

which could be applied to ER too

[proven cloak]

I think the Kos village is worse personally, but that's just parasites really freak me out

[frozen olive]

the Choir are abysmal dogshit at it

[proven cloak]

I would not want to live in fish-freak village 😭 get me out!!!

[frozen olive]

genuinely clown territory

what the fuck are you guys even doing lmao

[proven cloak]

Do it if you want but I don't want anything piercing my skin like that!

[languid tiger]

i would love to turn into crystal as long as i'm like, alive for it and capable of doing the things i want to do

which they were

like. turn me into a crystal lich, yes please

[frozen olive]

they didn't really seem to react to much

but that could just be they didn't care to do so

[languid tiger]

no, but they could extend their hands to give you their spells

[fleet bronze]

A big thing, I think, with both the Choir in BB and the Scholars is that they want to have their cake and eat it too. They want to preserve their humanity and prejudiced position but also want the godlike power of the primordial aliens, so instead of going through the personal trials and mental deprivations of turning into an alien themselves they torture other people into doing it

[proven cloak]

I read it as a sort of Buddhist meditation enlightenment thing, yeah

detached from earthly concerns (they love space)

[frozen olive]

yeah

that was my thought as well

[languid tiger]

so they're both immortal (you can't smack them with your stick) and capable of some self-determination and movement

and also sellen's glintstone heart thing seems to just be like

[fleet bronze]

Yeah, like they're approaching being a rock but that's actually the spiritual/philosophical goal

[languid tiger]

a general mastery technique for sorcerers

[proven cloak]

like ER as a setting also has some geniunely disturbing cosmological stuff going on

[languid tiger]

which i am so down for

[proven cloak]

Everythings meat and it all melds together

all the time

[frozen olive]

top tip

[languid tiger]

i want to crystallize my heart and draw the essence of my Id into it

[frozen olive]

don't be a Shaman in Elden Ring world

[languid tiger]

and then shove that into other bodies if mine explodes

[proven cloak]

thats a little uncomfy! thats something I don't know if I'd like the implications of, if I lived in that setting.

[proven cloak]

oh yeah I forgot about this part too

[frozen olive]

they're gonna put you in a jar

[proven cloak]

the primal sorcerers having actual ritualistic blood sacrifice daggers

Every faction in the lands between is getting freaky with it, all of them.

[fleet bronze]

Don't forget the Nox also trying to manufacture their own gods somehow probably by gluing a bunch of people together

[languid tiger]

god, where's that one ghost with "for heaven's sake, you belong in the jar"

[proven cloak]

Bonnie village

[languid tiger]

time to go grab that screenshot

[proven cloak]

that meat-melding is their redeeming quality, for the crime of being born shaman

the fact that the plants are just as meaty is what really gets me

[frozen olive]

makes me think of uh

those guys growing plants

[proven cloak]

something about flowers that feed on meat, or tree-bits merging with skin is just

I mean I can see the beauty in it, and the life connectedness and etc etc etc

but also eugh

[frozen olive]

the Erdtree Guardian dudes

[fleet bronze]

Crucible Aspect: Bloom also comes to mind

[frozen olive]

this is totally an okay state of affairs

[fleet bronze]

All life being melded together in the crucible clearly did mean all life and not just animals

[proven cloak]

yeah it doesn't shy away. All life means all life, not 'all fauna' or whatever.

[frozen olive]

theres also like

fly rot

[fleet bronze]

The branches growing out of these guys also really look like the budding horns or even the antlers on the Ancestor Spirits

[proven cloak]

never noticed the little tree-footies, not sure if they got them in game. cute!

[frozen olive]

i sure would like to turn into whatever the fuck this is

[fleet bronze]

As an aside, Ancestor Spirit is the GOAT of Elden Ring boss themes

[proven cloak]

the Nightreign Balancers big flower-form also is covered in horns

[languid tiger]

i don't think i would, but i'm glad for you

[frozen olive]

i was being very sarcastic, i'd rather start grafting myself than get the fly rot

[proven cloak]

I think theres an element where a lot of these also seem to be worsened by exclusionary responses, tbh

some of the cut content for the Tower had it be really meaty, and have similar pus-river bits at the top

[languid tiger]

look, you never know with people on a mecha server

[proven cloak]

so I think there's a read that the fly people are like, industrial pollution?

[frozen olive]

that's fair

[fleet bronze]

That's pretty typical FromSoft symbolism

[proven cloak]

The tower seperates the base elements from the divine elements, but it makes a bunch of snasty runoff?

[languid tiger]

oh that would've been so cool

[fleet bronze]

They're very similar to the Fly Men in Ariandel

[frozen olive]

i mean given the amount of like

meat rivers

and poison rivers

and rot rivers

yeah

i can see that

[fleet bronze]

I do think Azur and Lusat are good examples of how Elden Ring challenges you with both the unpleasant, corrupting, authoritarian attempts to manipulate the forces of the world but also the unpleasant and inhuman realities of those forces themselves

[frozen olive]

The Lands Between does feel like an absolute shithole of a place to live in

[fleet bronze]

Like the Graven Masses are horrific living atrocities

But the other option is actually becoming a rock, which naturally doesn't appeal to most people

Similarly, the Hornsent are ultimately natural and connected to the Crucible in some deep way but also bro you have horns growing out of your eyes

[proven cloak]

someone did an investigation and basically tracked the trailer cutscene of Miquella to actually still being Enir-Illm, just with in-dev textures

it was all red and grody

I kinda like what they went with more, because it looks timeless. Reminds me of something like the aftermath of a nuclear test.

[frozen olive]

yeah i do remember uh

the horrors™

[proven cloak]

like it was meaty, and then Marika blasted it with THE LIGHT

[fleet bronze]

Yeah, I'm surprised they didn't ultimately go with the gore version of the gate in game

I have to wonder how much of the change from trailer to final in game was because of changes in what they wanted symbolically/lore wise or if they just thought it was too much visually

[proven cloak]

aha!

https://bsky.app/profile/demoncorejr.bsky.social/post/3lbnbqof7i222

https://bsky.app/profile/littlechurch.bsky.social/post/3lbnbs5rrqs2s

KERA (@demoncorejr.bsky.social)

Thread documenting my discovery process and thoughts about unused textures in the final boss arena of Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree.
I wouldn't qualify it as cut content, but as a probable earlier iteration of the Divine Gate appearance and themes.

Bluesky · Nov 23, 2024, 7:58 PM

Little Church (@littlechurch.bsky.social)

The Gate of Divinity is made of flesh. Kera's data mining revealed decayed & bloodied assets within the sacrificial structure. I will explore the implications of this in the context of Belurat society.

Be sure to read @demoncorejr.bsky.social thread for insights into their discovery process.

1/

Bluesky · Nov 23, 2024, 7:59 PM

I found it

[frozen olive]

excellent

meat gate

[proven cloak]

these threads go into some more interpretive bits at time, but just seeing the OG dev textures is interesting

[fleet bronze]

Sad they didn't use the Meat Gate

[proven cloak]

definitely made the fly people & the poison river read different to me

[languid tiger]

i wish it would've kept the pus rivers, but i think all the corpses in the divine gate being dessicated works well

[fleet bronze]

It feels much more evocative, especially if it was revealed somehow over the course of the Miquella fight

[languid tiger]

because they were fucking drained

there's no more blood in this meat to be red

there's no more soul

[fleet bronze]

It also definitely serves to distinguish it from the Volcano Manor and the Mohgwyn areas

And Scarlet Rot too

[frozen olive]

i like the dessicated gate personally

i think the blood gate is more evocative

but i think the dessicated gate makes more sense

[proven cloak]

this part is my favorite, for the horrible implication

[fleet bronze]

Huh, I am suddenly realizing I never made the connection between the Primordial Current and the flowing waters that stop scarlet rot

[proven cloak]

I think theres a bit of a sombre edge to the desiccated gate

its a dead place

a lot of death was needed to make this place

[frozen olive]

yeah exactly

[proven cloak]

its not viscerally disgusting, but it's disquieting. It feels uneasy, I think the subtler touch worked.

[frozen olive]

again the whole of Enir Ilim is like

covered in corpses

it has corpses literally reaching out of it

the whole area the gate of divinity is in is both made of and covered in dead flesh

[proven cloak]

fits with the inhumanity of it too

like

[frozen olive]

even the fucking trees are full of bodies

[proven cloak]

the sorcs weren't the only people who wanted to become rocks

[frozen olive]

like genuinely it's corpses all the way down

[languid tiger]

i need the debug tools to make my dude invisible, but

acquired

[proven cloak]

stars want to keep moving! fate wants to keep moving, life wants to keep moving, water wants to keep moving!

[frozen olive]

there is just fucking corpses sticking out of the architecture

[languid tiger]

god, shadow of the erdtree is so good it's unreal

[frozen olive]

it's so peak

but yeah Enir Ilim is like

[fleet bronze]

Consider the flipside, the Ancestor Spirit is probably the most wholesome spiritual thing in the whole game and it's also a recycled body representing the natural cycle of death and rebirth

[frozen olive]

a place of great evil and unimaginable suffering

[proven cloak]

I even have a pretty positive view of Erdtree burial, tbh

[frozen olive]

almost certainly those trees are made from Numen/Shaman

[proven cloak]

like there's nothing evil about it, it's just a cultural burial practice

[frozen olive]

yeah

[proven cloak]

the tree eats dead bodies, like normal trees eat dead bodies

[languid tiger]

god. it's so good

the way the fucking sun shines through it

[frozen olive]

yeah

[languid tiger]

👌

[frozen olive]

also makes me think of how much of a hypocrite Miquella is

nepo baby would-be god looking ass

my mom is super evil and her becoming a god was bad
goes to the evil ass fucking tower made of corpses where his mom became a god to repeat the process

[proven cloak]

you know something really funny

[proven cloak]

all the fallingstar beasts could say this & then post a normal human

the noble Bull-Bug versus the malformed & weird looking bug-guy

[frozen olive]

kinda love that the aliens are all weird bug creatures

i sure do love having mandibles

[proven cloak]

and the onyx / alabaster lords, if they count?

[languid tiger]

they totally count, they're people from the stars too

[proven cloak]

they might just be earth-rock that got struck with some alien juice

and then stood up

[frozen olive]

this also goes into my favourite lore from Elden Ring

[proven cloak]

funnier to imagine them as like the one non-bugs though

[frozen olive]

which is fairly predictably Radahn fighting literally the stars

[languid tiger]

A weapon unique to the Alabaster Lords, a race of ancients with skin of stone who were said to have risen to life when a meteor struck long ago. oh huh, you're right that it's ambiguous

more so than i remembered

[proven cloak]

the fun part imo is that the Astels being

• Malformed
• Seemingly growing from 'fully formed' beasts
• found underground, never dropping out of the sky
  almost implies to me that they only get like that here

[proven cloak]

the fallingstar beasts come to the planet and then start mutating into people

[languid tiger]

it's the imposition of the unnatural human form

[proven cloak]

reverse cosmic horror!

[languid tiger]

on their normal bodies