Call and Response: Mountaintops
Added 2023-05-25 14:00:04 +0000 UTCYar har har, landlubbers! It's time to write in with your responses on The Mountaintops and Mountainbottoms in Elden Ring. The relevant areas are Subterranean Shunning-Grounds and Mountaintop of the Giants. Submit your response as a comment on this post! As always, keep some guidelines in mind.
1. Keep your responses and stories specific to Subterranean Shunning-Grounds / Mountaintop of the Giants.
2. Please keep your responses brief. Think two short paragraphs, or around 200 words.
3. Specificity is preferred over generalities.
4. 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, May 30th.
Comments
All I want to say is My Sincerest Apologies to those mighty Tarnished I summoned to help me slay the several spectral skeleton swimmers at the graveyard. Surely the Mariner will appear after we fell a few foes! ...Right? *Dejection gesture*
Matt K
2023-06-26 17:52:25 +0000 UTCFunny thing happened to me at the wizard tower with the invisible bridge. After dying to the bridge several times (why must the nearest bonfire be so far away?) I made it inside. Every other such tower so far has been free of enemies, not this one. Drunk on my victory and caught completely off guard, I died to those stupid clockwork creatures. "Flames on the side of my face..." When I get back from the loading screen, I realize that the front door is open. In my panic from the enemy attack, I didn't notice the message that said "seal on this tower has been lifted", because crossing the invisible bridge solved the tower's riddle. Haha, you got my Elden Ring...
Ken Yuen
2023-06-25 16:56:23 +0000 UTCI realize this is a bit late, but I'm new and just catching up. This is regarding Ranni / The Night of Black Knives. My impression is that Ranni and Marika may both have been responsible for what happened. We know that Ranni wanted to kill her body, but to use the Cursemark of Death it seems that both a body and soul need to die, so I'd guess some other demigod's soul was chosen as a sacrifice. Perhaps Ranni worked with Marika to choose the sucker who would get it in the back (i.e. Godwyn). I don't think Ranni cared who it was. We see through the game that she's perfectly happy to use people to her own ends. Since Marika was already interested in shattering the Elden Ring, someone killing her son could make a good excuse, and throw the suspicion off of her. Perhaps Ranni and Marika colluded to plot Godwyn's death so they could both get what they want. All the attention is put on poor Godwyn, and Marika comes out looking like the victim, even though the people who killed him are directly associated with her. They both get what they want. It also sort of recontextualizes the Age of Stars ending, when Ranni grabs Marika's head from the ground, and holds it up.
Taylor Bell
2023-06-19 14:59:22 +0000 UTCI wanna see Fire Giant cosplay real bad.
Steven Meadows
2023-06-01 17:20:27 +0000 UTCI love how each area kinda has its own little details that really elevate it over the basic aesthetic of the area. For example, Altus may as well be Yellow Limgrave if it wasn’t for the giant spectral banners waving in the wind in front of the outer wall of Leyndell. I was a little disappointed with the idea of a snowy mountaintop zone until I saw the ghost animals and bodies of giants skewered on thorny spires. The only thing missing is a total whiteout snow storm that completely ruins the player’s ability to appreciate the area and encounter design!!
Coty Davis
2023-05-30 22:18:20 +0000 UTCI loved the Giant fight. I hated it at first, but it was the first and only time that mounted combat truly became a joy. I decided to try and beat it without breaking his ankle to see if anything special happened, and as a result, I had to beat my head against the wall of his patterns before both the fight and finally learning how to maneuver Torrent clicked. For the record, it's the same cutscene for the Giant even if you bring down his health to a certain threshold without attacking the broken leg. Even so, it still felt like a worthwhile accomplishment, and it was nice from a roleplaying perspective to have kept my character's honor intact. It made me sad that they didn't pull off something similar for the Elden Beast. I get that mounted combat had mixed reception and they wanted smooth coop for the whole final boss, but I think even part of the E.B. fight being mounted would have been way more fitting and engaging compared to trudging through ankle-high water.
Wil Wright
2023-05-30 16:34:39 +0000 UTCThe first part of this continent (the mountaintops of giants proper) is often berated for being empty with too many recycled enemies, but I actually think that emptiness factor is great for the area. It’s a good change of pace, after the density and relentlessness of the capitol, with there generally being very few enemies and long spaces of quiet in this inert, almost lifeless environment. This is made even better with the spirit trees and spirit animals everywhere that imply a past beauty and sereness; that there was life here far in the past when the giants still walked the earth. It’s not as if we needed more evidence of the Golden Order’s shittyness, but the entire area constanly hearknes back to its atrocities. However, my positivity fades when we encounter the snowfields, a big selling point of the game are the beautiful vistas and soaking in the environment, why cover it up in this blizzard where I can’t see any cool details. For me it discourages exploration which is one of the main joys in the game, so I mostly just ran through this area when I realized what the game play gimmick was, this place sucks.
Ethan Ward
2023-05-30 15:16:20 +0000 UTCThe Leyndell Catacombs repeating geometry trick is so cool. Being able to pull the illusion off with no obvious load triggers is, to me, the next innovation in the "this scary space is different now" trope. It's less cool in a game like Layers of Fear or PT or something, where things are obviously different once you turn around, or once you open a door. The slow creeping realization that things are SLIGHTLY different is what I'd like to see more games try and pull off.
Chapel Collins
2023-05-30 12:16:40 +0000 UTCThank you! She even is the most human in appearance out of the demigods. I like how she values life just as much as she does death. There's definitely ambiguity in her sacrifice, in how there's some iffy mending runes that might slip through the cracks. Perhaps she truly trusts you after all. It always tickles me how it's literally shown from the beginning that she is, on some level or many, lying- offering to "play the role" of maiden, so on and so forth, she makes this very clear. It's interesting how she uses the tarnished in reaching the forge, which I personally believe was always her intention: she is constantly urging you in a direction to complete what she can start but cannot finish, and I think in this manner, among others, you are, again, an instrument of Melina's, and since she too is an instrument of her mother, it can be seen as another way of Melina doing what she knows best. The facade crumbling after the Tarnished inherits the Frenzied Flame is so so good. Her duty, for allowing you the strength of runes; her duty, for forging you. I love that Melina gives in to abject despair so easily, I love how she pleads for the sake of the world and is so incredibly cold, I love how she will chase you even after all is said and done and dead. It's so pointless. She'll kill you, and then what? What is left? There's no catharsis. Love it so much.
Goldie
2023-05-30 01:52:49 +0000 UTCLol oh yeah
Steven Meadows
2023-05-30 00:13:55 +0000 UTCHey guys, I missed the deadline to write in about the connections between the Siofra River area and Irish mythology/ history, but, luckily for me, that isn't the only part of Elden Ring that I think draws from that mythology. I actually believe that your friend and mine, the Fire Giant, could very well be based on an ancient Irish demon-god called Balor (rhymes with 'valor', nice and simple). Balor was a member of a race called the Fomorians (foe-MORE-ians). The Fomorians were a primordial and elemental group of giant malevolent gods who stood in opposition to the pantheon of gods worshiped in pre-Christian Ireland. (Kinda like the Titans in Greek mythology.) Balor was one of their leaders, and - in a bedtime story that I like to read my very young children - he is described as "a towering cyclops, and whoever stared directly into his gigantic, fiery flashing eye would instantly burn to death". Some depictions of Balor give him two standard eyes with a third 'fire-eye' in his forehead, some give him a single 'fire-eye' on his face, and many depictions give him two standard eyes on his face, with a third colossal eye taking up the bulk of his giant torso. I've never known Balor to be depicted with a giant second face, like the Fire Giant, but I do think his appearance is pretty similar in spite of that. Taking into account the connection between the Siofra River and the same mythology that Balor comes from, I don't think it's too much of a stretch. I'd love to give some explanation for the pot lid, but unfortunately, if there is a link between Balor and giant pot lids, then I'm not aware of it. It's said that in Balor's final battle, he wore countless normal-sized shields to protect his giant eye, so he is connected with shields in general, but that's about as far as it goes. There is one more fun connection that relates to Elden Ring though. There's a story that a young (non-giant) Irish goddess named Bé Chuille (Bay Quill-eh) once defeated Balor in battle by commanding nearby trees to, eh, beat him half to death, I guess? She then instructed the same trees to use their roots to drag him deep underground and create a cage for him there, where he would stay for 300 years. I gotta admit, I'd be really surprised if anyone on the development team knew the story of Bé Chuille, as she's not nearly as well-known as Balor. That being said, if the Fire Giant is related to Balor, then it's a pretty fun coincidence that a goddess who can draw on the power of trees is one of only a couple of people to ever defeat Balor in battle, given the importance of the Erdtree to the gods who defeated the Giants. Thanks again for all the great content; not just Bonfire Side Chat, but all the great shows that appear in my podcast feed throughout the week. Recently, I find that I'm especially excited every time Unfilmable shows up! Stephen
Stephen
2023-05-29 22:12:58 +0000 UTCI have nothing to say that you haven't said already. That's why I like her so much. That love for the world burning brightly alongside the horrors she's witnessed? Perfection.
JACKAL ALLTRADES
2023-05-29 21:59:13 +0000 UTCI love the Frenzied Flame, I love themes and no easy choices. Had to get that out. I’m actually saving most of my FF-related thoughts for the ending(s) episode. I’ve got a lot and I’m running out of word space. I also really like Melina. I found her desperate beseechment in the proscription compelling, and her blunt threat twice as chilling. Say what you want, but the differences in Melina’s delivery felt very much “off-script”. Marika’s last mouthpiece/narrator, who urges you on through the lens she knows best, the lens of a story—you’re on adventures together, right? right?—would burn the Erdtree, the brightest symbol of Marika’s legend, herself. Before her death, I can see her as unacknowledged in the lineage—a *societal* bastard, maybe, created before M&M came to be. Out of Marika’s brood, I like to think of her as the closest witness to the horrors & victims of the Shattering—left dead and wandering through a land ravaged by her family. Sort of an Arya-esque angle. it’s highly doubtful she was telling us the whole truth from the start, but I believe her love for the world was stubborn, real, and her own.
Goldie
2023-05-29 21:37:10 +0000 UTCAs much as the Mountaintops are a drop in quality as far as areas go, it’s hard to deny that the view of the Erdtree is simply gorgeous, and it’s a nice touch that from the moment you step out in Limgrave (and in many places in the map) you can see the Forge of the Giants. I do wish that the area was a bit more compact, considering how little is really there and that you have to ride through a whole of nothing each playthrough. There’s decent rewards in some of the side dungeons, but nothing really exceptional considering how late game it is, outside of maybe Black Flame Ritual if you’re a faith build (since it can melt large bosses like dragons or Astel)
Lucas West
2023-05-29 18:31:10 +0000 UTCI know lots of folks think Elden Ring takes a downturn at Mountaintops of the Giants. I respect this opinion, but as an absolute Snow Simp, I spent the whole game waiting for a trip to Ice Town. They kept teasing me with loading screen images of this area, but, damn, it took a long time to get to this particular fireworks factory. When I got there, it was pretty good. I am horny for snow.
Eric Nagurney
2023-05-28 19:47:12 +0000 UTCIt's referring to the 1983 Bonnie Tyler hit Total Eclipse of the Heart.
Duckfeed.tv
2023-05-28 18:32:24 +0000 UTCHello gents, I’ve been following BSC since about March when I started playing Elden Ring. Let me just say that it’s terrific stuff. Granular, just how I like it. Some time ago, Garry described the Dung Eater as the Marilyn Manson of the Lands Between (or words to that effect). Respectfully, I’d contend that he’s the GG Allin (née Jesus Christ Allin) of said locale. Think about it. He’s shit-smeared, loathsome and has gathered a perplexing number of followers. The long deceased GG often spoke of how sharing bodily fluids with the audience represented a kind of communion. Honestly, I’m not a fan of either GG or the Dung Eater. The latter was left to languish in his room at Round Table Hold for the whole of my first playthrough, simply because I thought he was better off rotting in jail. I do feel the similarities are striking though. Is this crazy?
William Habington
2023-05-28 15:45:12 +0000 UTCI know you guys have said that there is no sun in Elden Ring, but the Church of the Eclipse made me consider what the hell is the eclipse referring to and if there is no sun then what is going on in the sky to cause a day/night cycle? Like other celestial bodies, is the “sun” some far away outer god presence that comes and goes on a day cycle? Is the cycle caused by the moons eclipsing this “sun” on a daily basis? I feel like Elden Ring’s cosmology would have some kind of rationale for what’s going on up there.
Steven Meadows
2023-05-28 13:10:00 +0000 UTCThe Shunning Grounds was one of my favorite parts of the game because it was the only one that recaptured that tense dungeon-crawling experience that used to define these games. It took until this point to realize how much I missed it in Elden Ring, with its generous Graces and the uncatchable Torrent. Visually, it’s a sewer. But the confusion of navigating those pipes and pathways, the tension born of straying further and further from Grace, knowing you could meet one - or several - miniboss-tier enemies around every corner made it a more visceral gameplay experience than I got anywhere else. It’s good that not every area in a 150 hour game is like this - but a bit more of it might have been the cursed blessing we didn’t know we wanted. The Mountaintops, to me, is where the game finally buckles under its own size and runs out of interesting content. The environment is rocks and snow. The absence of a distinct enemy fauna hurts badly - it’s largely a grab-bag of random mobs copypasted, strewn around and turned up to 11. A real fall from the other four, major open world areas. The only saving grace is that there’s still interesting lore to explore. My pet theory is that the LB were once connected in a great whole ring, based on the titanic skulls’ presence only in the Mt Tops and Caelid. And the pillars the Giants’ Forge rests on match those found as the ancient stone ruins all over, finally giving us an indication who might have made them. Previous games sometimes liked to tell us the world is built on countless ruins of civilizations that came before. Elden Ring doesn’t need to tell us, it shows us.
Joacim Tornéus
2023-05-26 20:30:29 +0000 UTCElden Ring was the first FromSoft Game that I played on release. So to get the full "experience" I made sure I was always online. It wasn't until the Subterranean Shunning Grounds that I really felt the overwhelming nature of countless invasions early in the lifecycle of a FromSoft Game. A notable situation was when I was attempting to summon allies in the Omen Hallway when I got the "you've been invaded" notice on my screen. I quickly looked around to see if a phantom would show up and try to ruin my day. Nope! Instead, they waited in the mass of pipes and slowly picked off my two allies before chasing me into a room with a couple of Omens ready to wreck me if the invader didn't. For whatever reason, the invader and I were synced that day because I got invaded by the same player 4 times throughout my visit in the Subterranean Shunning Grounds. I finally paid them back when I pushed them off one of those pipes. I know a lot of people hate invasions, but I find some of that silliness to be the best part of the game.
Benjamin Cousino
2023-05-26 16:51:25 +0000 UTCHey guys, Sorry if splitting my comment in two isn't the way to do it. Feel free to edit if used. I absolutely loved the Subterranean Shunning Grounds. Embarrassingly, I completely missed it in my first playthrough. Did you guys miss any major areas in your first run through the game?
Sean P.
2023-05-26 15:43:50 +0000 UTCWhat is up my dudes, Mountaintop of the Giants and thereby Consecrated Snowfields are such a forgettable part of the game for me that I can't even keep them straight in my head even after playing through them 4 times. To me this section is the most underbaked in the entire game. Maybe in Fromsoft's history. That's all. Wondering your guys' thoughts and if they're different than mine. My hot take: I like the Fire Giant. His name is silly and I like a good gimmick. I also like how visceral his ankle breaking is. Best, Sean
Sean P.
2023-05-26 15:33:21 +0000 UTCI love the Shunning Grounds for one, and only one, reason: the music. The soundtrack down there has a unique "color": it's warm, mysterious, and ominous. The reeds are playing unusual, low harmonies that reflect both the "depth" of the area and the chonkiness of the Omens. When you enter combat, the music switches to sound like the warning bell at a railroad crossing. It's jarring. But if you survive the encounter, those low reeds come back and all is "well" again. (Looking forward to the Eldin Ring Music Episode in a year or two!) [Later edit: Regarding Hyetta's speech about the One and the Greater Will. I think this is Neoplatonic or Gnostic "emanation and return" cosmology. If I understand correctly, the universe starts with The One, which emanates Mind, which emanates Soul, etc. One of the Emanations in that chain makes a mistake -- turning away from the One and toward lower things. In doing so it emanates our fractured material world -- a world marked by multiplicity rather than unity. Our job is to return to unity with the One -- paying back the being/existence we have borrowed from it.]
Micah Tillman
2023-05-26 14:37:11 +0000 UTC(Feedback and thoughts from earlier in the run - hope that's ok too! No worries if not) I was relistening to the Deeproot Depths episode - which I highly recommend, if nothing else for Gary bringing Those Who *Live!* In Death into the world - and I came to a realization about the Crucible Knights. The named ones are Ordovis and Siluria - corresponding to the Ordovician and Silurian geologic periods, where early animal life flourished! The next period is the Devonian, and the previous the Cambrian, so I can't wait for the DLC so we can meet Crucible Knights Devon and Cam. Also, one of the stages of the Ordovician period is the Darriwilian. Bloodhound Knight Darriwil is linked to the Crucible Knights! And by linked, I mean one of the writers was looking at the Wikipedia page for the Ordovician and said "Hey, that's a neat name" - all the lore goblins out there can probably calm down. I continue to look forward to the podcast every Sunday. Lightning Crashes!
Timothy Post
2023-05-26 14:04:09 +0000 UTC(Left this comment on the Leyndel response, since I wasn’t sure when the Shunning Grounds would be covered) One recurring motif in Souls games is that the greatest empires are always built on top of their darkest secrets. Anor Londo hides it's only remaining god beneath the Main Cathedral. Castle Lothric sits atop the Consumed King's Garden. Yarnham is built on top the Tomb of the Gods, and the Grand Cathedral hides it's source of blood (Ebrietas) underneath it. This is the case in ER as well, with Leyndell hiding the Golden Order's shame beneath it's city streets. This is a big part of the reason why I love the Shunning Grounds, as it's where the gameplay and the story are most in concert for me. Clearly modeled after the Tower of Rebirth from Berserk, it's where everything the Golden Order shuns about itself has been buried, from the discarded Omen to the Grand Caravan, and as we delve deeper beneath the earth, we uncover more and more of the uncomfortable truth of the atrocities that this seemingly pristine and holy empire was founded upon. It's no wonder that, by the time you get to the bottom and find the 3 Fingers, it's easy to get on board with burning it all down.
ChipHand_Z
2023-05-26 13:03:28 +0000 UTCI think it could be further evidence that Marika (who would’ve held the Rune of Death at some point before it was split from the rest of the Elden Ring and the Golden Order was established) might’ve used it against them, which could also lend some credence to the theory that Marika was the Gloam Eyed Queen, before Maliketh subdued her on the Golden Order’s behalf to seal death away.
ChipHand_Z
2023-05-26 12:57:29 +0000 UTCFirst time, long time. Clearly, there is a lot of evidence of deathroot up here in the mountaintops. We only see one living giant up there (the boss) and the rest seem to have been killed by deathroot impalement. I don’t recall reference to the Golden Order using the deathroot as a sort of WMD, despite their apparent opposition to it. Is this more evidence of Golden Order hypocrisy, or is this something that happened after Godwyn’s soul was killed? This question could be extended to Stormveil Castle, though Godwyn’s face is present there indicating that ruin probably happened after his soul murder. Thank you for all the wonderful content!
Steven Meadows
2023-05-26 10:59:31 +0000 UTCGood god the Shunning Grounds is an absolutely cruel dungeon. Just brimming with mean fucked-up guys who will happily flatten you with a shrug. The Mohg fight almost feels like a break after all that, even if it's not easy. And then there's that sweet little violin song that's playing afterward that I can only describe as I-want-to-go-home music. You can tell they just *knew* how harrowing it was. The ultimate "yeah, come back to this later" dungeon.
Emily K (EmK Ultra 64)
2023-05-26 09:46:36 +0000 UTCAs someone who likes to play as a stealthy glass cannon, I love the shunning grounds. I personally find omens to be the perfect enemy type where they are very intimidating in a duel but not so bad that they ruin the fun if I get caught while stealthin'...*cough* Lion Guardians *cough*. I can usually take a single omen out before the fight even starts, but finding two together or not noticing one until it was too late always presented a fun challenge or a great excuse to book it the fuck outta there! The area feels like a great expression of that age old wisdom that stealth games are best when it's fun to sneak and it's fun to get caught. It also gets flipped on it's head when you have to start sniffing out where the little gargoyle cats and dogs are because they go down easily but missing one can mean getting stun locked off a cliff. All told, a fun area where you can really utilise the different tools the game gives you to fight on your own terms at every step, if you're quick and quiet enough. Then again, as someone who has loved the souls games since Demon's Souls maybe I just have an affinity for shit cities inhabited by unwanted freak babies, because Maiden Astraea will always be the moment these games took up permanent residence in my heart.
Joe Jones
2023-05-26 02:54:03 +0000 UTCThank you for including pronunciation!
Duckfeed.tv
2023-05-26 01:55:36 +0000 UTCYou know, I'm actually pretty tired of giants.
KL
2023-05-26 01:39:14 +0000 UTCI appreciate the criticisms of the area, and am even curious to hear more about those, but to me, the mountaintops feel like they are worth their place in elden ring. The starkness (aka lack of content :p, but also the blinding snowstorms, and vast empty landscape) felt like a compelling artistic choice that gave it character in contrast to the rest of the incident-dense game. The atmosphere fits well with what I see as the austere and deep side of elden ring. The area is special to me because I have never felt so strongly that feeling of loneliness and isolation in a game than when I was travelling thru those mountaintops.
faith rasmusen
2023-05-25 23:09:28 +0000 UTC(name pronunciation: key-OR-ey) I've been waiting so eagerly for you guys to get to the Subterranean Shunning-Grounds because, honestly? It's one of my FAVORITE AREAS. It reminded me so much of my first time ever picking up Dark Souls, with getting lost and being scared. This place felt like a test of endurance to me in just the way I liked, planning out when to use flasks and when to tough it out, when to fight, when to run and when to just sneak on by, and when to rest at the grace after a loop or to try backtracking just to make sure I got everything. It's also home to where I died the most because of those damn lobsters (yes, even counting against bosses like Malenia. :( ). Even just on its own I love it, but this, on top of the Leyndell Catacombs, on top of the frenzied flame area which I only found because of some helpful messages, all combined into hands down one of my favorite dungeons, and I look forward to it every new playthrough.
Kiore Hernandez
2023-05-25 22:32:19 +0000 UTCWhy is there no Celestial Dew in the Mountaintops? Does FromSoft prefer Coke products?
Zaynation
2023-05-25 18:54:50 +0000 UTCI've been in the mood to do a frenzied flame run (rush for Vyke's spear and the frenzy incantations, do the grape stuff with Hyetta, and get to the frenzied flame proscription ASAP) to see how characters react to the player having accepted the frenzied flame as early as possible. I was particularly interested to see what Shabriri would say once I got to the mountaintops. I was greeted with Yura's armor sitting neatly in a pile and no new dialogue. So, I guess no need to sell me on the bridge I already bought. I'm also excited to see the DIY burn the erdtree cutscene. MAY CHAOS TAKE THE WORLD! Jk, I'm actually most excited for the DLC, where we will get an ending related to my favorite denizen of the subterranean shunning ground, Mohgwyn and also I guess more lore about that manipulative creep Miquella.
Bill Darrow
2023-05-25 16:13:35 +0000 UTCAlso, are we not going to talk about the long long pause he gives himself when Shabriri says his own name? Makes me laugh every time. Love the voice acting on this guy.
Charlie Frame
2023-05-25 14:56:55 +0000 UTCForbidden Lands is my least favourite area of Elden Ring. Up until here, Elden Ring delivers in bounteous spades, but this represents that later-game point where things start taking a dip into the less-than-perfect. An awkward, hobbled run through a singular foggy path full of recycled enemies and annoying terrain designed to get you cornered by the Vulgar Militia. The landscape pointlessly presages the snowy Mountaintop area, making for a less impactful change of scenery once we ride the Grand Lift of Rold. The game could easily have done without this area, and instead replacing the elevator we ride from Leyndell to the Forbidden Lands with the Grand Lift itself. The only mitigating factor is that it's mercifully short.
Charlie Frame
2023-05-25 14:56:11 +0000 UTCMeeting Shabriri was the moment I realized Elden Ring was a fantasy written in the tradition of Michael Moorcock. A universe squabbled over by godlike beings who represent different aspects/philosophies of Law/Order & Chaos/Entropy. The player, is like an incarnation of the Eternal Champion, a hero manipulated by these forces, who ultimately makes and enacts a moral judgment over a reality. When I realized what story this was, all the lore slid nicely into place and my characters role crystallized. I was thrilled to find an interview in Edge magazine that cited the Moorcock as an inspiration for the story. It was wonderful to play a video game that really captured the spirit of new wave fantasy of the late 60s/70s. (Note: The Eternal Champion stories aren't a single series, but loosely connected stand alone series, novellas and short stories. The first Corum book, The Knight of Swords, is a good place to start.) - JC (they/them)
JC
2023-05-25 14:49:25 +0000 UTCAlso, who builds a catacombs in the sewer?
The Wolf, The Wood, and the Trafalgar
2023-05-25 14:31:00 +0000 UTCThe Subterranean Shunning Grounds might've not been my least favorite area if it weren't for the catacombs located there. On top of having omens that feel far too tough for the area, it also tries to confuse you with what seems like respawning omens just to make you even more Furious. At least in the Mountaintop of the Giants and lake or Rot you can run past everything. Far harder to do so in the SSG
The Wolf, The Wood, and the Trafalgar
2023-05-25 14:20:43 +0000 UTCOkay, now that the full map has been revealed, can we talk about how the lands between are a giant curled finger? It's the same shape as the item icons. In addition if you look at where the Bestial Sanctum is, it's right on the tip of the finger, or where the "claw" would be.
Matt DiTomaso
2023-05-25 14:09:44 +0000 UTC
