Call and Response: Leyndell
Added 2023-04-13 14:00:03 +0000 UTCHey tarnished! It's time to write in with your responses on Leyndell and the Volcano Manor in Elden Ring. The relevant areas are the the Capital Outskirts and the Capital itself. Submit your response as a comment on this post! As always, keep some guidelines in mind.
- Keep your responses and stories specific to Mt. Gelmir.
- 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, Monday April 24th!
Comments
Hey guys! I absolutely love the podcast. I hope I’m not too late with a fun fact that I thought you’d appreciate. There’s a voice actor for Goldmask. His name is Ryan Morris and he’s a FromSoft favorite. Having voices other fan favorites like Horace the Hushed (DS3) and the Messengers (BB) it’s obvious that this person is a true icon.
Quin Tutor
2023-05-05 01:28:08 +0000 UTCHell yeah
Duckfeed.tv
2023-04-25 04:34:33 +0000 UTCI loved this ecosystem so much. My favorite was the reveal that Radagon and Marika were in fact the same person to some extent. This reminded me specifically of the Hindu God Ardhanarishvara, who themselves was a bi gender composite Shiva and his consort Parvati, where not only is the duality of non-opposing gender confluence present, but it also intersects with a sexual and/or romantic relationship as it does with Radagon and Marika. These parallels aside, the idea that the main catalyst of the story is can be interpreted as gender fluid, intersex, and/or bigender. Again, this game absolutely smacks of gender and you can expect my manifesto on St. Trina and Miquela when you reach the halig tree. Trans rights are human rights. Protect trans kids.
Dani Murano-Kinney
2023-04-25 03:31:42 +0000 UTCLeyendell gives me some pretty conflicted feelings. The sheer size, the art direction, and the interwoven level design are all great and blew me away on my first playthrough. The corpse of Gransax lends a lot of weight to the scene, and the corpse-wax sealed buildings are eery at the least. I really enjoy the Morgott fight, and the Godfrey shade fight is interesting. However, many of the enemies feel bloated and over tuned, a trend that only ramps up for the rest of the game. On top of that, the shunning grounds are absolutely miserable. To me, there is no redeeming quality of them in terms of a gameplay, and the lore bits we get there aren’t enough to make up for it. While I love what Leyendell aspired to be, it represents the beginning of many big issues I have with the late game.
Daniel Barclay
2023-04-24 15:06:07 +0000 UTCBig thank you, as always, for the careful dissection of Elden Ring! I just wanted to add a plug for the Winged Crystal Tear; it sounded like y'all couldn't imagine using it. While I certainly wouldn't advocate using it to avoid heavy-rolling or being over-equipped, I have found it extremely useful to go from medium-rolling to light-rolling (and then back whenever the buff expires). In Farum Azula, this strategy finally enabled me to beat Maliketh! I medium rolled for Gurranq and then popped my physick for phase 2 to have just a little more distance in my rolls. Likewise during my own playthrough, and whenever helping others, I will light-roll during the fight with Radagon and go back to medium rolling for Elden Beast, where it doesn't matter as much. I have it equipped right now for this purpose :) Thanks again!
vale
2023-04-19 16:07:54 +0000 UTCI had my concerns about an “open world dark souls game” as many of the things that makes the series stand out as a cut above the rest could have so easily have been lost in translation. 1) Leyndell speaks for itself in that regard, imo this area is one of the best in the series. 2) One of my favorite things about Lordran, Lothric, Yharnam, and uhhhhh *Japan* is that you can find good spots to whip out a telescope and survey the area. Whether you’re at the cliff beyond Vordt in dark souls 3 or at the top of Ashina Castle in Sekiro, you can look around and see that everything is pretty close to where you’d expect it to be. Including low poly landmarks in their designated spots. In Elden Ring, just beyond the Giant Crusher, there is a cliff where you can see the Bestial Santcum, all the way to stormveil, and if I’m not mistaken, even Castle Morne. Do you guys have any uniquely Souls experiences that you’re surprised to find intact when transitioning to the open world formula?
Coty Davis
2023-04-19 08:38:20 +0000 UTCFirst off, I want to say thank you Gary and Cole for the years of great content on BFSC. I am long time listener but Elden Ring is the first season I have zero playtime on for lack of access to anything other a switch currently. It is really appealing but also not something I have gone looking to watch whole playthroughs of and can easily get lost in a sea of videos titled "Can any boss survive X summons?!" Luckily, I get this wonderful format to be lead along into the world and hear the joy and fun you both have been having all season so far. Some of the highlights to me have been imagining the underworld of Nocris and the vastness of an otherworldly realm, and Volcano Manor seems so rich I have looked it up to hear the dialogue and see the mansion unfold. As a last note I want to leave a recommendation that should appeal to you both and probably many viewers. I stumbled on the YouTube channel "A.I. Lovecraft" that has been uploading Lovecraft stories narrated, shockingly, by an AI Ranni the Witch. It's pretty neat.
Kyle Knapp
2023-04-15 22:27:02 +0000 UTCI tend to play through these games in a pretty impatient fashion and fail to explore every corner, leaving discoveries for future playthroughs. Leyndell and the Shunning Grounds, being as complex and sprawling as they are, are still revealing paths and secrets to me after many hours in this game. Running across rooftops, navigating confusing sewer pipes, finding a familiar looking Manor that has unexpected openable doors, scaling towards the Erdtree, the city is full of unforgettable experiences, and is certainly up there with the best of the best dungeons from the series.
Lucas West
2023-04-15 08:58:29 +0000 UTCLeyndell is one of the best legacy dungeons in the game and perhaps the most expansive level From has ever done. I can’t overstate how much of a treat this area was. However, some details in the area made me wonder what other iterations of Leyndell would look like. There are scenes like the Page playing their flute over their masters grave, or the start of the game where we see an angry mob hanging the DungEater and lowering him into the Shunning Grounds(?) These small details suggest a liveliness to Leyndell not present in its predecessors, like Irithyll for example. That wasn’t a place I imagined someone living. And after Dark Souls 3, I was curious to see something other than complete desolation. With that in mind I imagined what it would be like if Leyndell had been populated when the player arrives there, perhaps not bustling like it would be in its prime, but still having some citizenry barely holding on. How would they react to a Tarnished? What would the gameplay be like? Leyndell really made me want to see what From’s take on a populated city would look like. How would it subvert all we’ve come to expect with From’s normally desolate worlds? Perhaps, Elden Ring was never the right game to explore that, however.
Ethan Ward
2023-04-14 23:21:48 +0000 UTCI had an incredible amount of anxiety when Leyndell was made an objective in game. A feeling of “finality” was all I thought awaited me at the capital city. Because of this, on my first play through I tried to complete every dungeon, cave and side quest I could find in the first 3 areas available at the start of the game. Long story short, this led me all the way underground to the Deeproot Depths to fight a Lych Dragon. Once completing Fia’s quest there is a teleporter beside her body to which I hopped right on through and to my surprise, was thrown into Leyndell to be met with one of the most jaw dropping sights I’ve ever seen in a game. Panicking, I tried to run backwards to find a grace and to my surprise I ran up against the backside of a fog wall with no way of entering (or exiting in this case). I eventually found the “real” route to the capital and the Draconic Tree Sentinal stood no chance against my pre-nerfed Moonveil and got to take in and experience maybe the best area in the game. The feeling of finality was quickly pushed aside because the game continued for another 20 hours from there anyway. Thanks for the years of Bonfire Side Chat, keep up the amazing work!
Keiran Hird
2023-04-14 17:52:52 +0000 UTCOne 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 Carivan, 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
2023-04-14 00:16:33 +0000 UTCThe subterranean shunning grounds are cool, that’s where you learn how to destroy omens.
Mortiis
2023-04-13 23:02:07 +0000 UTCLeyndel is the first time since Anor Londo that I’ve felt a sense of awe looking at a city in a game. It might be the best dungeon From has designed and it’s chock full of that wonderful feeling of treading where you don’t belong as you jump across rooftops and duck down back alleys around roaming groups of enemies. I didn’t know if they were going to be able to answer the promise of how majestic the area looked after getting teleported here early, but they did. S tier execution both in presentation and in gameplay. It also made me want an immersive sim by FromSoft in a city with this density.
Stephen Veilleux
2023-04-13 21:35:09 +0000 UTCI just love that the enormous dragon set piece in Leyndell was around for ages as life continued around there (since we know there was a long time that passed since the war with the dragons when it first crashed into town). Just think about what a little freak everyone in town must have been to just go on with their life as a massive decomposing / petrified dragon just forms a new winding flyover near one of their roads. They literally ignored it and kept it around, didn’t even bother with a Leyndell 9/11 memorial or nothing. I don’t have much else to say about this legacy dungeon as it is a clear standout, but I just want to call out that the ambient music, already so excellent in Elden Ring, just reaches an apex here and also in Elphael. Just A+ at communicating story and mood.
Mystic Referee
2023-04-13 20:21:14 +0000 UTCLeyndell is an entire game’s worth of area to play in. It’s like Anor Londo+, where you get to explore all the streets on the ground instead of rooftops and spinny platforms and the goddamn rafters. I digress. But the aesthetic, even on the map view, built the anticipation to when you finally see it and it totally pays off.
Josh Sanko
2023-04-13 17:25:41 +0000 UTCI was already amazed by how large and labyrinthine both the Stormveil Castle and Academy of Raya Lucaria felt to previous soulsborne levels. Then I got to Leyndell, Royal Capital. The place is huge! I just didn’t expect it to be this big! I mean, half of the area behind the city wall is water, but the actual city is still impressively large. Not just that, you can go everywhere, explore all the sprawling streets, nooks, and crannies. Nothing you see is just a backdrop. The city alone is an amazing legacy dungeon. And then you stumble upon an ordinary, easily missed well... which leads you to the Subterranean Shunning-Grounds, the city underground. You just don't really expect to find a whole new place with its own Site of Grace and all behind a well. And then you go deeper... I simply couldn't believe how deep this rabbit hole goes, like it has no bottom. This is not a simple side dungeon. It almost felt like a full legacy dungeon with its own smaller side dungeons: the more typical Leyndell Catacombs, and then the Cathedral of the Forsaken. The latter leading through a fake wall to a place that is key for one of the endings. FromSoft's not afraid to hide a lot of interesting or even important stuff knowing a lot of players will never find them. It's insane and I love it.
Adam Hošek
2023-04-13 16:40:20 +0000 UTCLeyndel is great, it feels much more lively than Anot Londo. In a way, it reminds me more of Yarnham, with it's back alleys, gates and stairways, and the bizarre reveal that the disconnected player hub is represented by an actual physical building. One wonders what that place truly was, given that the Tarnished were banished and therefor couldn't have had a home in the capital.
superkeaton
2023-04-13 15:56:31 +0000 UTCLeyndell was a confused mess for me. Having just finished Dark Souls 1 for the first time, I was used to having a nice linear area for me to traverse through in the legacy dungeons, but this is not like that. It seemed like everywhere I went was a dead end. I didn't realize you could climb up the dragon and traveled through the sewers and defeated another Omen boss before I gave up and asked my friends for help. After that trial, Leyndell became very enjoyable with Morgott becoming one of my favorite fights, even though it sits atop my least favorite area of the game
The Wolf, The Wood, and the Trafalgar
2023-04-13 15:49:02 +0000 UTCThis has already been discussed a bit, but I completely agree that Leyndell proper is like Anor Londo if you could drop down into the actual city. Much like a real city, it has multiple ways in and out and I never felt like I going down a "critical path" but was instead exploring the ruins of a once-great capital, trying to find Morgott. It's just massive, too: enough to accommodate multiple stages between the ramparts, the main level, the sub-level leading to the sewer, and the colleseum, perfumer district, Tarnished HQ, and of course the little nooks and crannies hidden throughout. Lastly, this shouldn't be surprising but including a dead dragon you can climb on to navigate the city is always a welcome addition!
Tim Nellett
2023-04-13 15:40:13 +0000 UTCI like Leyndell a lot, but I feel like other dungeons do a better job with their themes. The capital has some wonderful moments of majesty, like the bizarre heralds, the massive petrified dragon, and the erdtree avatar that floats down from above, but enemy make-up doesn't really match the awe-inspiring environment. I would've preferred more heralds throughout the level, replacing the imps that are ubiquitous throughout the rest of the game. The hand enemies are neat, but we already have the wretched albinaurics and the omenslayers for the lower capital, and they are a better contrast to the knights and perfumers in the wealthier areas. Sometimes a smaller enemy palette can give areas a more distinct theme and direction, and Leyndell falls short in that regard.
Ethan Ryan
2023-04-13 15:21:55 +0000 UTCIn every Souls game, I'm a sucker for their castle levels: Boletaria, Anor Londo, Drangleic, Lothric, Ashina...love them all. In Elden Ring, my favorite area in the game is Stormveil Castle but Leyndell is a close second. I love standing up high and looking out at this vast city. I'm very curious about the wax leaking out of every nook and cranny as well. It also happens to be where each of my characters has hit a bit of a skill-wall. I feel like I have to get gud all over again every time I arrive there.
KerooSeta
2023-04-13 15:16:25 +0000 UTCEntering Leyndell was the highlight of the game for me. It was built up for so long and it felt like everything I had done (which took at least 60 hours to that point) was leading up to that moment. Walking in, seeing the architectural aesthetic, hearing the music - it felt so alien and different from anything we had seen so far. It might be my favorite moment from any From game!
Derek Mansen
2023-04-13 15:15:12 +0000 UTCSoulsborne is no stranger to horror as we all know. But for some reason, the peaceful atmosphere of Leyndell freaked me out more than anything I found in Bloodborne or a previous Souls game. I spent the greater part of a week walking through the city streets of Leyndell in an effort to avoid getting jumped. Unfortunately, it's a one of a kind experience because the second and third play throughs took significantly less time. Overall, probably my favorite legacy dungeon in the game. But seriously, those weird Albinauric guys with the funky heads that are hiding near an entrance to the Subterranean Shunning Grounds...fuck them.
Benjamin Cousino
2023-04-13 15:13:28 +0000 UTC1. The prompt at the time of this comment says "Mt. Gelmir" Leyndell was brutal as a caster in my first playthrough. The shielded Leyndell Knights ate through my blue drinks and I had decided to forgo having vigor so they also hit like a truck. Getting to that second grace took so many attempts (and I walked past it like a million times). But I LOVE those bosses. They feel the most "fair" in the game. Readable attacks, great music and cool arenas. Even Mr. "This Fuckin' Guy" Morgott feels enjoyable to me. Nowthat I now the dungeon, it's one of my favorite stretches of the game for that reason.
Lucy
2023-04-13 14:43:54 +0000 UTCI had a tremendous time with Leyndell, first being bowled over by the view from the top of the elevator after that early Weeping Peninsula transporter trap — one of the great 'preview vistas' in gaming — and then later finding another warp gate to take me deep inside the Capital without having to fight the Draconic Tree Sentinel. Without intending to clear every corridor, and severely underlevelled, I made a mad dash through the labyrinthine halls and along rooftops on suicide runs, amazed at the complexity of the architecture. I can't begin to guess how the level designers and artists sculpt these spaces, especially with grand features like the dragon corpse draped across the level.
Thomas Quillfeldt
2023-04-13 14:34:33 +0000 UTCI think you said this segment would also cover the Subterranean Shunning-Grounds, so I'll weigh in now: It's my favorite mini-legacy dungeon in the game. I know you have both teased it's your least favorite area: the enemies are over-tuned, the layout confusing. I hear you, and I agree with each of these criticisms, to a degree. That said, I think what I love about it is the Bloodborne vibe I get: dark and intense, very few save points, and a series of surprisingly interconnected ladders, gates, hallways and shortcuts. In this way, it felt a little like Central Yharnam's sewers to me. I came to appreciate the over-tuned enemies, because it made this section more about survival and stealth than the usual loop of clearing every mob as soon as you see them. If I do have a criticism still, it's the pipe system near the end, which has the same problem as Dark Souls 3's Smouldering Lake: maze-like hallways that just feel the exact same the entire time.
Ben Taylor
2023-04-13 14:23:47 +0000 UTCHello! Longtime fan, very occasional writer (both to you and in real life - my handwriting is basically illegible). Realise this is late but just a quick one to say I think you guys both missed my absolute favourite weapon in the game found in the Gelmir Hero's Grave - the Ringed Finger. If you proceed through the lava where the first chariot is you'll find it on a corpse to the left. It's literally a severed finger from one of the Carian handspiders with an ash of war in which the weapon swells and flicks enemies. Sorta reminds me of a Worms prod. Plus the opportunity for euphemistic japes is limitless…
Matt Simpson
2023-04-13 14:12:48 +0000 UTC
