Call and Response: Bonfireside Chat: The Middle of the Map
Added 2024-12-18 01:55:34 +0000 UTCHey tarnished! It's time to write in with your responses on... I can't figure out what to call this collective area in Elden Ring! The relevant areas are Specimen Storehouse, Bonny Village, Church District, Scaduview, The Cathedral of Manus Metyr and Recluse's River. Submit your response as a comment on this post! As always, keep some guidelines in mind.
Keep your responses and stories specific to the areas we listed
Please keep your responses brief. Think two short paragraphs, or around 200 words.
Specificity is preferred over generalities.
We tend to get a lot of responses, so please don't feel bad if we omit your response, or edit it for length.
The deadline is the end of the day, Tuesday, December 31st.
Comments
Look out! Big Ass Sunflower coming through! I love how many bosses just spurn from this area and how awesome all of them are. That fuckass sunflower is now one of my favorite Souls bosses just because of how batshit crazy it is. I was left dumbfounded when it came back for Round 3, and proceeded to nuke me. Name another game that does something like that. Commander Gaius is pretty cool in my opinion. I like to think they liked the theory of Loretta being an Albinauric and made that into an actual character. Last thing I'll say is there is nothing quite like having your character start to uncontrollably spasm only to then get violated by a giant leech.
Brady Nodolf
2024-12-31 09:06:03 +0000 UTCI love Metyr so much. Something that strikes me about her is the similarity between her and the Elden Beast. There are obvious differences (bipedal), but I think Elden Beast resembles a skin-removed version of Metyr, like how you can see the inside of crumbling Radagon. Elden Beast’s drooping head also reminds me of the Putrescent Knight, like they’re both made of pridmorial life-substance. Another thing I noticed was that Metyr has 4 fingers (on her hands) while Elden Beast has 5. Because of how the Greater Will bestows 5 fingered hands and intelligence to chosen servants (like the beasts) , perhaps Elden Beast is an intelligence bestowed/ otherwise modified version of whatever Metyr is. Sorry about the wild speculation, but I really like how these design similarities/motifs may imply another instance of the Greater Will using and discarding its servants.
Steven Meadows
2024-12-30 16:36:21 +0000 UTCI've never noticed her emerging from a pot in the opening cinematic. We see her and Radagon hammering on the Elden Ring, and we see her in her arms-out pose with something black-ish with a gold vine pattern both in front of and behind her. But that always looked like cloth/a cloak/a dress to me. Is it meant to be a fancy pot? That would explain some things!
Micah Tillman
2024-12-27 15:23:27 +0000 UTCRe: the "Have mercy, for the spirited-away shamans" note- This message is in the Shadow Keep because the passage to the Hinterlands is through the Shadow Keep, so of course I'm thinking about why the message was written in the Shadow Keep, in the narrative. My sad theory here is that Messmer wrote the message as a deterrence or warning to his own men, as resentment towards Marika (and him?) grew as the crusade wore on. I think the existence of the sickroom could be enough to draw a connection between Marika & Marika's past, and might even mean more than the Sentinels to the common soldier given that the sickroom is inside the Keep. So then only utter reverence such as O Mother would grant passage. On that note, the furnace golem lurking right outside Bonny Village seems incredibly deliberate.
Goldie
2024-12-25 03:17:32 +0000 UTCIn the intro of the game we see Marika emerging from a pot. It’s possible that Marika was kidnapped away from her village with the other shamans and solely survived the Bonny Village jar ritual (Maybe even absorbing Radagon as another person in her jar?) and was seen as divine by the Hornsent. Her elevation in Hornsent society for emerging from her jar as a whole person may be why she was granted the status that allowed her to betray the Hornsent society and ascend to godhood.
JackelZXA
2024-12-23 05:13:52 +0000 UTCThere are two places in the game where stone tablets show up in large quantities: the Specimen Storehouse and Marika's bedchamber. Storing information in stone tablet form makes sense if you want to avoid fire knights accidentally setting your books on fire. But fire isn't allowed near the Erdtree, where Marika keeps her stash of stone tablets. Does this imply that Marika brought those tablets with her when she left the Land of Shadow? Why does she need them?
Micah Tillman
2024-12-19 14:47:30 +0000 UTCMy first time to the Church District was late in my run. I was pretty ready to head to the final area but I felt that there had to be more areas to explore. Once I finally got here and started running along narrow walkways surrounded by water it got legitimately jumpscared. I heard something huge under me thrashing around. Imagine my surprise after draining the area and getting to the ground below and saw what it was. I'm not sure the reasoning behind reusing the Ulcerated Tree Spirit in this area. Finding one was a real "I didn't expect that." moment but when I found it wasn't alone I really couldn't fathom it. I think it at least communicates that they expected this place to be explored pretty late since it has the same implied intention as the multiple tree spirits in the ash version or Leyndell. But with far less sense. I don't honestly hate fighting them as most but it left me wishing for something different. Definitely a mix bag of an area since it combines an interesting use of an area with the flooded section and frustrating reuse of enemies from the base game
Chris Blanchette
2024-12-18 12:54:50 +0000 UTCThe Midlands Between? (Also kind of a reference to Berserk's Kingdom of Midland)
Andrew O.
2024-12-18 02:11:48 +0000 UTC
