Elden Ring: It's difficult, But Fun
Elden Ring is a relatively new game, yet it has grown into one of the most popular games across the world. Elden Ring is one of the most unique games I’ve ever played, but also one of the most difficult one. Elden Ring is what we call a “Souls game”, which is a game genre notable for its high levels of difficulty and emphasis on environmental storytelling (typically in a dark fantasy setting, as well as being an action role-playing game). First of all I haven’t beaten Elden Ring and most likely won't for a while so I will be giving my experience so far. There’s a lot to Elden Ring so let’s jump right into it.
First, character customization. This is one of the first things you do when starting a new game. You are given a lot of freedom of how your character looks, from your eye color to your height, to basically everything about your character. Next, you must choose a class, each class is unique in its own way. There is the Warrior who is skilled in dual-wield combat, the Vagabond who wields a great sword and shield, the Samurai who is great at long and short range combat, and a lot more classes. Also depending on which class you choose you will be given a certain starting weapon. Each class is catered to a different playstyle; it just depends on how you wish to play. Now ingame you're called a Tarnished, which is a person or being you have been denied death basically and you are now immortal and guided by Grace (I’m skipping over a lot to explain this because the Elden Ring lore is super complicated). After you create your character and pick your class, you’re dropped in the game. Now, you need to understand before you start the game that you will be dying a lot. There’s no way to avoid this so embrace it. Anyways, you are spawned into a rundown church, rubble and bones surround you, and the way out is forward. When you exit the church you are greeted by a huge chasm, across the chasm you can see a large cathedral. You continue the path till you reach a large open area, here you find the first “boss”. Now I say “boss” because this first enemy will destroy you in an instant, this is supposed to happen. After that you are transported to an underground building, which you traverse to the surface. When you get to the top of the building you push open a large stone door and you see the first main area of the game, Limgrave.
Limgrave is the beginning area of the game, it is a massive plain with swamps and forests scattered across. Limgrave is dangerous just like the rest of Elden Ring. But, Limgrave is more peaceful per say. The enemies aren’t super powerful but aren't easy either. Your enemies range from huge horse riding knights to fireflies, but be very cautious exploring you might walk into the wrong place. Speaking of exploring, that’s one of the best things about Elden Ring. I have explored all of Limgrave plus a few other regions and I have to say, the map of Elden Ring is simply Gigantic! Each area is different from the last with unique landscapes and enemies. Before I continue, let me explain the combat of Elden Ring. To put it simply you have 3 different ways to attack; you have a light attack, a heavy attack and based on your primary weapon a special attack. Obviously, the light attack is faster but weaker; and the heavy attack is slow but stronger. And that special attack drastically varies.
As I said previously, your character follows Grace which looks like a golden stick, these are your safe points as well as the thing that tells you where to go. You follow Grace across Limgrave till you reach the north, here you will find Stormgate. This is the entrance to the ominous Storm Veil Castle, which towers over you as you explore. The Grace leads you up a large hill where you must fight waves of knights. You fight till you reach a stone tunnel, you continue down till you find yourself at a cliff-side area. This is the first story boss area. A cutscene plays: as you enter the area a large figure in the distance begins to talk to you, “Foul Tarnished, In search of the Elden Ring. Emboldened by the flames of ambition. Someone must extinguish thy flame. Let it be Margit, the Fell Omen!” This is Margit the first main boss of the game, he is a large humanoid person who wields a staff the size of him, he is also covered with some sort of fungi. Margit is different from most other bosses in the game for the reason he has a unique moveset. He throws his staff around fast but takes forever to swing plus he uses magic to catch you off guard. He also has two phases (which are different stages in the fight where the boss changes its moveset). In Margit’s second phase he starts out by leaping in the air with a magic hammer and smashing to the ground. His second phase is very similar to his first besides the use of more magic. But through countless tries and rages, you will beat Margit. And after you do you will feel great. That’s another great thing, you feel accomplished. Now after you defeat Margit you gain access to Stromveil Castle.
And that's where I’m going to stop. Elden Ring is an amazing game with much to explore and so much to make you angry. I don’t want to spoil too much of this game. I Highly recommend this game to anyone who likes open-world games but remember to be prepared to die a lot.
