Call and Response: Bonfireside Chat Castle Ensis and Scadu Altus
Added 2024-10-04 20:36:41 +0000 UTCHey folks! It’s time to write in with your thoughts for the next Roundtable Roundtable episode on Bonfireside Chat.
We’re looking for responses about:
- Areas across the Great Ellac Bridge (Fog Rift Catacomb, Forge, etc.)
- Castle Ensis and Rellana
- Scadu Altus (incl. Fort of Reprimand)
- Rauh Base
Remember that we like responses that are concise (about two paragraphs) and specific.
I know this is a weird chunk of the game to get a Roundtable, given how slight Ensis is, but we didn’t want to go too long without hearing your thoughts.
Leave your response as a comment on this post by Tuesday, October 8.
Comments
Thanks, especially as I completely forgot I said I'd retype it
Luke Summerhayes, visionary host of the excellent Game Game Show podcast
2024-10-10 02:49:35 +0000 UTCDon't worry, I found it in email. --Gwen
Duckfeed.tv
2024-10-09 15:53:33 +0000 UTCWhen I first fought Rellana, I misread the name and thought I was fighting Rennala again. I just thought, “Guess this is some shadow version of Renalla?? Weird, but, ok?” I literally didn’t realize it was a different character until you brought it up on the show. The confusion was mine, but I think it was caused by two main issues: the lack of context clues about the boss throughout the level, and the apparent requirement that all characters in the game have similar sounding names, starting with either “M” or “R.”
Nathan LeBret
2024-10-08 23:34:52 +0000 UTCAs a serial non-reader of item descriptions, I initially guessed that the Shadow Realm was a past/future/alternate dimension version of the Lands Between. I spent hours trying to find the equivalent areas, fighting past the doubt of seeing Scadu Gelmir (Jagged Peak) on the wrong side of the map, eventually landing on Scadu Liurnia (Gravesite Plains). The ultimate validation of my theory was exploring Scadu Caria Manor (Castle Ensis), defeating Rellana, and stepping out onto Scadu Altus. That moment seemed like an almost 1-1 comparison of the Grand Lift of Rold and the Altus Plateau. Unfortunately, after a lack of good analogues, my theory fell apart pretty soon after that. I did have a lot of fun trying to figure it out though, and I love how these games encourage player sleuthing.
Jared Mogen
2024-10-08 13:13:37 +0000 UTCI agree with the theory that the Fort of Reprimand was designed (mostly) to punish those in Mesmer's forces who may have had second thoughts. I think the things you brought up all point to that, but I do think the biggest give away (or point in that theory's favor) to me in the presence of a Marika's Rune item on the corpse pile. The description for Marika's Rune says: "Golden remnants of the grace personally bestowed by Queen Marika to the heroes who joined the crusade for her. Use to gain 80000 runes. The brilliance of Queen Marika's grace blinds even the very best." I think that last sentence is really doing a lot of work, explaining how zealotry can infect and blind people to the truth in front of them. It also seems to me that, given the association with this amount of grace residing in people's eyes, that perhaps one of those crusaders blessed by Marika plucked out their own eye, saw the truth and was rather brutally "reprimanded."
elizabeth p.
2024-10-07 15:39:14 +0000 UTCSo I've got 2 things I want to talk about, Moore and other stuff. I'm not sure if anyone's mentioned it yet, but I feel like Moore is neurodivergent of some type. As someone who is a high-functioning autistic, Moore talks the same way I would when encountering a stranger. I love him. I'm not sure if that's what they were going for when they created him, but that's the vibe I get. I love the idea of Bear Communion. Like it's just a one off thing that even the description doesn't take seriously. Shout out to my boy Taylew. He can solo most the bosses in the dlc. Runt of the liter, my ass. And I love martial arts. Bleed on them is incredibly fun, and it feels really good to kick enemies in the back of the head.
Brady Nodolf
2024-10-06 21:08:02 +0000 UTCLeda is my favorite NPC of this DLC. "Brainwashed zealot who is actually even more insanely zealous when the brainwashing charm is removed" is a hilarious and delicious version of a FromSoft character with hidden intentions. She feels like a composite take on many such characters they've done since Demon's Souls: Yurt, Lautrec, Navlaan, Alfred and Lapp (Patches) come to mind. It naturally made me curious about GRRM's hand in the DLC story, or rather the story of Miquella followers. In a previous episode you mentioned the Oathseeker Knight set we find outside the Church of Benediction, hanging right above the pathway where we first spawn in the Gravesite Plain. While it seems innocuous, it is in fact the exact set that Leda is wearing (she drops an altered version of the armor piece with the cape). The description says "These knights set off on quests of discovery, hoping to find by themselves an oath of their own choosing to serve in perfect, lifelong devotion." Paired with our knowledge later that she culled the rest of the Needle Knights in service of Miquella, my personal canon is that she and other Oathseekers pled their devotion to Miquella of their own choosing. She murdered them when they doubted their devotion to Miquella, and I like to think she was charmed in an effort to calm her fanaticism. The gentle love of Miquella's charm is presented otherwise as a horrifying perversion, but in this instance it seems to curb her psychopathic tendencies.
Mystic Referee
2024-10-06 19:35:03 +0000 UTCAs someone who sucks at exploring in these games, this area was where I was most confused in the DLC. I missed the entrance to Rauh base, the tunnel to Bonny, the fort with Black Knight Yoshi, and the basement of the Fort of Reprimand. I’m grateful for sections like this, because it’s left me new things to discover on following runs. There’s nothing like that confusion on the first couple runs
Lucas West
2024-10-06 19:27:12 +0000 UTCRegardless of Castle Ensis (which I was a little fonder of due to the stepped layer design and needing to explore around corners and over ledges to find all the items), stepping out of Rellana’s arena was a magical moment. The moment resonated with the top of the lift of Dectus: a surprise new vista with so many places teased on the horizon. Scadu Altus had some of the best ‘hidden’ paths in the DLC: dropping down to Fog Rift fort, the path through the cave with the perfumers, and Moorth ruins. On the first pass, I felt constrained by the furnace golem ahead, so to then realize that the bounding box was more permeable was a special experience to me.
Randall Scott
2024-10-06 15:28:13 +0000 UTCIn so many ways the DLC proves to be an echo of the base game. The two paths to Scadu Altus via Castle Ensis and the back way through the Fort of Reprimanded being a reversed version of the Dectus lift, with no named boss required to achieve, and the cowards path, with its Magma Wyrm, to get to the Altus Plateau is great.
Collinsbro45
2024-10-06 14:17:51 +0000 UTCI didn't dislike Castle Ensis as much as you, but I tell you, I LOVED Fort of Reprimand. I originally approached the latter the opposite way to you guys, via a spirit spring as opposed to the entrance after the Ghostflame Dragon. What seemed like a very small legacy dungeon turned out to have all sorts of hidden areas and secret passages - notably the body-chute which I very nearly missed. What fun!
Charlie Frame
2024-10-05 10:07:13 +0000 UTCI was surprised to encounter a single lone Man-Fly while playing through the Subterranean Shunning Grounds. Or at least, I'm sure that's what it was (it's dark down there). I've looked online but can't find mention of this unique enemy. Anyone else able to corroborate?
Charlie Frame
2024-10-05 10:04:23 +0000 UTCHi guys! Long time listener, first time commenter. As I explored Fort of Reprimand, I quickly thought of the Loathsome Dung Eater. Surely we’ve seen many gallows in the game, but something about those in the Fort reminded me of the picture in the game’s intro where we see the Dung Eater being hung. The presence of the omen killers reinforced that association (sorry Gary) in my head, but I didn’t think much of it. That is, until listening in the last episode you discussing the Iris of Occultation. The theme of denying someone of light and grace again reminded of the Dung Eater, and how he would sever people from the cycle of the Erdtree. In the end, I doubt there is anything solid behind these speculations, and upon looking at that picture from the intro again, it looks like a different place. Still, I’m curious if anyone else had similar thoughts, or if these observations bring up any ideas from better lore hunters.
Rafael Ramos
2024-10-05 01:15:36 +0000 UTCI saw this notification and sent a response to the contact but I'm supposed to send it here, right? I'll see if I can muster up the energy to retype it . . .
Luke Summerhayes, visionary host of the excellent Game Game Show podcast
2024-10-05 00:58:34 +0000 UTCYou were both 100% correct that the story and mood and vibe surrounding Rellana was more or less non existent. However I would say she was my favourite boss fight of the DLC from a perspective of pure play. Nothing felt unfair, the move set built on itself as the fight went on, the double moons were neat looking. She wasn't a cakewalk, nor a frustrating maso-core hate fest. She took me a handful of tries, each time I got a littler closer. By the end I felt that I had learned it and beat her with the appropriate level of challenge. Sure almost every other boss wins in pure spectacle. But Rellana was just good gaming, gosh darnit. Or maybe I just give 5 stars to anything that reminds me of Maria. Who can say.
Matt DiTomaso
2024-10-05 00:21:59 +0000 UTCEnsis is such a crusty little dungeon. Thematically I feel like Rellana would have been better in the cerulean coast.
Scrotes McGooch
2024-10-04 21:37:06 +0000 UTCI might have misunderstood you guys during the episode, however: The lazuli sorcerer is not a new enemy for the dlc..! I remember killing them and getting their set in the main game. They appear in all the Caria coded places.
Håkan Ibrahim
2024-10-04 21:01:28 +0000 UTCthis section of the DLC was where it really came together for me and where I fell in love with it. I had bounced hard off of the Dancing Lion with my extremely foolish "fist weapons only" build that I stubbornly stuck to the entire playthrough. I was worried the bosses were all going to be classic From Software "fuck you" difficultly, so when I got to Rellana I was pleasantly surprised that it was the type of difficulty I have been chasing in these games since my first bout with Artorias. I am also a huge sucker for a fight with a Carian Knight in a moon gazing pool, though you guys brought up a great point on how it doesn't really get elaborated on and there is almost no text surrounding her/it kind of makes no sense. I think I was just extra stoked on "Rennala's secret sister" because a friend of mine had accidentally almost spoiled that for me in a text by naming the bosses he had found. Funny enough, when he had mentioned her by name, my brain just filled in the middle of the word and I thought "well shit...I guess there's some sort of re-fight against Rennala in the DLC which would have been awesome to find out naturally..." So finding her felt extra cool to me. Rauh Base was actually the last piece of the map I found in my playthrough hours and hours after doing everything else. I had played most of the DLC and figured it would be safe to watch streamers playthroughs of the early game without spoilers, and sure enough, I saw people getting to an area I had never seen within the first couple hours of their playthrough and finding the Rauh Base map piece almost immediately all because they went the one direct I didn't. I absolutely loved being lost in this DLC
Karl Germ
2024-10-04 20:58:10 +0000 UTC
