I finally finished my first stage show at Elden Ring last week, which seems like a bit of a feat considering I also had an especially bad stomach flu. I just wanted to keep my head in a bucket, but the “lands in between” loomed large, and toward the end, I had to keep playing in those gaps between unpleasant explosions. However, the real challenge was to finish something that consumed my life for over a month.
I usually find it very difficult to focus on one game. I’m easily distracted, and my ever-expanding gaming desk provides nearly endless distractions. There has been a string of tempting new releases, and all the old customers, and my online obsessions, are trying to lure me away. But this time I stayed in the course.
The reason for this new level of discipline is simple: Elden Ring is very cool. It’s the first game since Disco Elysium that has gripped me like this, that I have to talk about it all the time even when I’m off the clock.
This can be a pain in the ass at times, and none of the patches at any point alleviated significant performance issues, which should have been bothering me quite a bit given my recent expensive PC upgrade. But these flaws became largely invisible the moment the game started – overwhelmed by the amazingly grotesque procession, cheesy building experiences, and overwhelming sense of camaraderie that comes from entering a challenging game with millions of other people.
Fellowship of the Ring
That last part made it very difficult to say goodbye. I just started socializing offline again recently, in small doses, and throughout the ordeal of the pandemic, toys have really been an incredible salve, second only to getting a puppy in November. And Elden Ring was where it peaked — and even if you’ve barely gotten into the multiplayer side of things, it’s still a deeply community experience.
All of my victories and successes I share with the folks who tirelessly write guides, people discussing building ideas on Reddit, and friends and colleagues giving me advice on Twitter and PCG’s Slack channel. maybe I could have finished without all this help, but I would have missed a lot, and the experience would have been worse without it.
All of my victories and successes I share with the folks who tirelessly write guides, people discussing building ideas on Reddit, and friends and colleagues giving me advice on Twitter and PCG’s Slack channel.
The older you get, the less inclined you are to join online communities, especially gaming communities. Elden Ring didn’t inspire me to do 180, but just being online and playing Elden Ring means you’ll inevitably become a part of this loose affiliation of Tarnished that’s spread all over the world. Even if you manage to avoid social media, if you’re at least playing online, you’ll see messages and ghosts from all those other adventurers.
It feels like you’re part of something, with its own language, eccentricity, and sense of humor, that rises by the fact that this game, damn it, is an unruly bitch. You have to rely on your slick buddy. Sure, some are archaeological vents that drop messages over sites of grace or down stairs, and are responsible for many unnecessary deaths, and there are plenty of lies painted on dungeon floors or on the edges of cliffs – but that just gives the rest of us some bad guys to curse at. Trolls collect us.
The only comparable experience, really, is the launch of a great new MMO. We’ve seen some of that with New World, but the main difference here is that the Elden Ring is really cool and its secrets are worth revealing. Now that I’m out the other side, I’m feeling a little lonely. I miss the nights I spent jamming my way through this mysterious world with my ghostly companions, each doing the same in their own version of the lands in between. It is strange not to be buried in debates about the efficiency of various swords or the sharing of feats to help people overcome a particularly difficult opponent.
wrap
When I got close to my erdtree last week, I backed out. There were a few optional bosses I still needed to deal with, and plenty of spells and weapons I wanted to collect for my NG+ adventures, but I wasn’t really remotely prepared to leave Lands Between and all the people still playing. Because I knew that while I couldn’t wait to play again, it wouldn’t be as intense. I will dip in and out while playing other things. The new player experience is a unique experience that cannot be taken back.
So I left Erdtree. Only then did she take on what is considered the toughest boss in the game, Malenia, and the boy who lived up to her bad rep. It was just one of many memorable encounters I had while technically clearing things up. Even late in the game, Elden Ring kept sending me digging rabbits, delving into hidden areas and getting seriously lost. I’ve changed my build a whole bunch of times, too. Amidst all of this, I totally forgot that I was a few big fights away from watching the credits roll.
The distance between the point at which I decided, “Okay, I’m ready now” and actually finishing it up was also vast. The last battle between the bosses is Dozi. My main build proved pretty unstoppable up to that point, but time and time again I was destroyed by the Elden monster. I watched videos, I searched Reddit, I questioned my mates—there was a lot of homework. I left the Elden Tree again, looking for weapons and spells that would give me an advantage. Now Elden Ring himself was trying to stop me from saying goodbye. It was great — one of the highest points in a game that’s been packed with it.
When I finally did, with no more flasks, a dead imitation rip and only a tiny sliver of health, all this joy and relief struck me. I woke up the dog to demand a high five. Then I had to throw up all over the bathroom because the stomach flu doesn’t care about my accomplishments. But even when my throat burned and my guts felt like they were being crushed, I was elated. I held off for a long time, but it bloodshot me that I finally became an Elden Lord, even if it meant I had to move on.
Of course, now I have no idea what to do with myself. Sleep, most likely. Looks like some games are out? I think I can see what it’s all about. But in fact, I prefer not to play anything for a week. You still need to digest the Elden Ring after 150 hours of chewing. And I suspect other games will either fail to get my attention, or I will spend too much time comparing the experience to the great one I just enjoyed.
Having said that, I installed Sekiro…