Bonfireside Chat 281: History and Endings
Added 2023-10-01 14:00:09 +0000 UTCThe fate of the Lands Between rests in your hands.
Comments
2 things: 1) I’m 99% sure that Fia actually produces the rune in her slumber before she is killed by D; 2) If you listen to Hyetta, it sounds to me like the Frenzied Flame is not a ‘starting over’, but a complete and permanent annihilation of life in its individuated form, and a return to ‘The One Great’, forever.
dshamz_
2024-05-02 02:50:57 +0000 UTCOne complaint I have with the ending choices is that Godfrey is the only character in the rollcall in the intro that doesn't get his own Elden Lord ending. Personally, I think the "Age of Fracture" ending should have been Godfrey's ending instead of Gideon's. The whole "We're meant to continue to fight and struggle forever" seems like it would be right up his alley. I wish they'd come up with something more interesting for Gideon. And he had his own side quest that resulted in his own Mending Rune.
DarthEnderX
2023-12-07 15:20:23 +0000 UTCYeah... I dipped in last month to grab the rest of the Elden Ring episodes, and didn't realize this one was missing till I got to it. I had to resubscribe just to download this one episode...
DarthEnderX
2023-12-07 00:12:45 +0000 UTCJust a heads up the bonfireside chat tag is typoed. I just though you skipped a week and possibly someone else missed it too.
Screwball Johnson
2023-10-10 15:07:15 +0000 UTCOh ok perf!
Austin Mathis
2023-10-09 21:41:54 +0000 UTCYea
Ben Vilimek
2023-10-09 21:38:01 +0000 UTCDid you read the comment
Austin Mathis
2023-10-09 20:05:47 +0000 UTCThe games wouldn’t be the same without the narrative approach.
Ben Vilimek
2023-10-09 20:05:08 +0000 UTCIt is a shame. I also feel similarly about getting to and beating Malenia. You go all that way and you get to... an empty room? I'd have liked there to at least have been some sort of back exit to emerge from somehow, rather than a dead end
Charlie Frame
2023-10-04 19:50:28 +0000 UTCTLDR: Elden Ring is the best game ever and it would benefit from a more intelligible narrative setup The Lands Between as it exists in the game — the terrain, the plentiful and varying life forms, the pickups and economy, the hidden secrets and responsive details that bring the map to life — offers me more than any video game ever has. After the first few hours of gameplay, as I grew accustomed to discovering hidden caves and finding stairways underneath ruins, digging into the world felt immersive in a way I had been wanting my whole life, and I’ve never had a better feeling than knowing how much discovery must be in front of me (which ended up being way more than I thought!). I think for a lot of players, this is the experience that makes this game the undisputed GOAT. As you reach late game however, even the basic plot points that led your progression seem to obscure, you don’t understand your characters own actions or conversations, and every new challenge feels a little more video game-y with each big red bar underneath a name that you think maybe sounds familiar. But it isn’t until you finally defeat the double final boss that you experience the worst of it when you reach your END GAME TITLE PRIZE 🏆 🤩 but you don’t even understand the final decision being presented to you 😵💫. This is when the game would’ve benefitted the MOST from a narrative that comes across clearer. I’m not saying to completely obliterate Miyazaki’s storytelling methods. The story doesn’t necessarily even need to change. But from the very jump, there are just too many of the primary agents and events of the world that present as abstract ideas (Greater Will, Outer Gods, Golden Order, the Crucible, the Two Fingers, Destined Death, Elden Ring/Elden Beast, Erdtree, The Shattering, etc etc etc etc etc etc etc.) and keep in mind that many of these terms remain obscure to this day even to the savant who scours every wiki and resource for canon info. As far as I understand it, Crucible means the dragons are the people and the beasts are their pets and the grace is their money???? If the player character was a bit more clearly positioned in the world from the jump, you wouldn’t have an end game that is so much weaker than the beginning of the game. And I don’t think that would betray the identity or the ambitions of the project. I agree with Gary about the DLC, I don’t want plot reveals, I want to go into the side of a mountain again and explore the paths knowing what’s inside could be ANYTHING. That is what makes Elden Ring #1 to me.
Austin Mathis
2023-10-04 17:40:06 +0000 UTCThe pod really helped me on the 2nd & 3nd playthrough. It felt like youtube world was rushing pushing out guilds and content way to fast. Then quick to complain about the game being to long. Thank you guys for taking your time letting game breath Umbasa.
Mcav86
2023-10-03 13:22:00 +0000 UTCI’m surprised you guys have never mentioned the no hit runners, which I find more difficult and interesting than just straight up speed running.
Erik Heard
2023-10-02 20:41:20 +0000 UTCI got the Ranni ending and that's all I need since I don't care about achievements. I've only beaten the game once, but I've played through the whole game again, skipping the worst bosses. Why not finish? Because I feel the Elden Beast is that bad. Large bosses are usually a pain, but combined with the fact I need to chase it around like a chump feels like a real slap in the face.
Andrew O.
2023-10-02 18:03:26 +0000 UTCThis is a cool idea
Duckfeed.tv
2023-10-02 17:56:33 +0000 UTCWhen all is said and done, I gotta take my place on team Ranni with you guys. That character really left a lasting impression on me and I love rereading her dialogue and re-watching that ending every once in awhile. She seems to have this incredible foresight and self-actualization that no one else has in the game. She's probably the only FromSoft character I ever met who I felt like I needed to defer to. Love her iron-will/courage to do the scariest things imaginable (slay her own body/leave the planet) to preserve her (and our) autonomy. She really inspires awe and fear in a way very few video game characters do.
EzekialJeans
2023-10-02 17:13:40 +0000 UTCWhen I started listening to this series, I was fighting and losing to the Fire Giant. I thought "easy, I can finish this game at my leisure and be done well before BSC even starts talking about Volcano Manor." Then I got a new job. Then Tears of the Kingdom came out. And now BSC is over and still I'm at... ...Farum Azula being sad about Alexander. Thank you for all your work!!
Toshio42
2023-10-02 15:21:46 +0000 UTCI would actually love to see the DLC add new endings about the stuff you mentioned which didn’t receive an ending… I think that would actually be cool! Also new endings for what the DLC is actually about
Mitchell Turner
2023-10-02 09:18:16 +0000 UTCThank you guys for sticking with it, like the format for the history/endings to give a context refresher. Personally, I find the endings of this game to be somewhat weaker than the ones in Dark Souls 1-3, and even the new Armored Core. I may just be a sucker for how utterly hopeless the DS setting is, but I feel that the overall story of the trilogy largely having to do with fighting the inevitable just lands better for me. Ranni’s ending is fitting, though that’s probably because she leaves the world in a state most relatable to our own. I would be very curious if the DLC will add any new endings to the game, or hopefully at list a tiny slice of more context for the endings we have. Regardless, can’t wait for it and l look forward to the future extra ER episodes!
Lucas West
2023-10-02 06:46:25 +0000 UTCWow! Lot's of cool stuff in this one. The history bit was a great touch, really drives home just how much more immediate history is in Elden Ring. I knew Martin wrote the novella and by extension had a hand in the characters and worldbuilding, but I didn't know just how much he shaped the locations as well (and it's always nice to hear an "auteur" basically refuse the whole idea. guarantee 'the creator' wouldn't do that).
Jonathan Scratch
2023-10-02 02:22:33 +0000 UTCReally appreciated the history lesson on this one, fellas. I’d love one of these about all the souls games from my guys.
Richard Cochnar
2023-10-01 23:49:42 +0000 UTCY'know they say all endings are created equal, but you look at the Frenzied Flame ending and you look at the rest and you can see that statement is NOT TRUE!
TC Padgett
2023-10-01 22:36:57 +0000 UTCI hated that the Volcano Manor/Rykard didn’t mean more than what it was by the end game. Not only would I have loved a World-Serpent ending with the scale and scope that the Frenzied Flame ending got, I had all these aspirations that when I arrived at the Volcano Manor and joined the family that this was replacing the Roundtable Hold for me. Tanith was taking Gideon’s place as my superior and I was to carry out my mission for the rest of the game in the name of the Great Serpent. I even had an idea that, by turning in rememberances from bosses at the Manor rather than the Roundtable Hold you would get alternative rewards. I was even hoping that this would at least be the first true covenant I discovered in the game. Huge bummer for me in the long run, especially considering that four of the endings are just copy/paste with a palette swap.
MIKEISTKRIEG
2023-10-01 20:06:42 +0000 UTC
