Call and Response: Caelid
Added 2022-10-09 18:57:42 +0000 UTCHey folks! It's time to write in with your responses on the Caelid region in Elden Ring. Submit your response as a comment on this post! As always, keep some guidelines in mind.
1. Keep your responses and stories specific to Caelid, the Dragonbarrow, and Redmane.
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, Wednesday, October 12, as we are recording this on Thursday.
Thanks!
Kole
Comments
I think one of the things that Fromsoft does really well is convey an atmosphere of hostility in its area design. Even with no enemies, Caelid is scary and unsettling, especially with the addition of the stressful discordant background music. The juxtaposition of the inviting and beautiful limgrave to being transported via trapped chest to the hellscape of Caelid only further serves this goal. Side anecdote: Once I did emerge from Sellia Tunnel to the swamps of Aeonia, I was immediately excited to see how starkly different the environment was. The potential for variety around every corner in Elden Ring seemed to almost always deliver.
Coty Davis
2022-10-13 02:36:12 +0000 UTCI have a Caelid experience that feels entirely unique to me After beating Radahn, you can basically softlock your game if you close the app before reaching his site of grace. After doing so, when I booted the game up again, I was in Limgrave and couldn’t fast travel anywhere. My instinct was to go into the eternal city and reach the first site of grace thinking that would fix the problem. Not the case. Long story short, I spent hours making my way through The eternal city and deeproot depths. Even after all that, still nothing. I ended up having to jump off some cliffs near Radahns’ Arena with Torrent to glitch my game again and put me back, as Jiren wouldn’t say anything to me and the elevator in Redmane wasn’t operable.
Cameron Lodor
2022-10-12 19:42:56 +0000 UTCTo me Millicent and her questline really highlight the issue I have with elden ring and pcs... I completed all of the caelid portion including going back to gallery shack and was very excited to see where the story went, but then never ran into her afterwards.. I understand that this is not dissimilar to how dark souls 1 and 3 do npcs but it feels much worse with such a large open world and little if any sign posting around them.
Dani Doyle
2022-10-12 19:06:55 +0000 UTCThe festival kind of ruined my internet black out of Elden Ring while I was playing. I read nothing about the game, watched no trailers, nothing before it came out. While playing I tried to stay offline as well; letting the mystery wash over me. But when I first went to Redmane Castle and it was eerie and empty, I thought the game glitched and started to get worried that I wasn't getting the full experience. I reloaded a bunch of times, left and came back. Finally I grabbed my phone and googled 'Redmane Castle no enemies, glitch' and was quickly assuaged of my fears. But that was the first crack in the dam (and just seeing the titles on reddit threads spoiled no fewer than three different things!) Afterwards I felt more and more comfortable going online about things, so I did, and that kinda sucks. For me, this happens eventually with every game, I get a strong sense of FOMO because I don't have time to play games more than once. Elden Ring is my favourite game of the year, but Redmane did 'tarnish' its luster a little for me. Neat idea, terrible execution. On Radahn’s horse: In recent years I’ve held two of my dogs in my arms and looked through my own tears into their eyes as the euthanasia drugs were administered. Despite in one case unfathomable cancer pain, and the other uncontrollable bleeding and extreme age, neither “wanted” to die and both looked at me scared as it happened, licked my face and dug their claws into my chest before the first drug takes hold. I then sobbed and felt their final breath and their 90 pounds becoming dead weight as their heart stopped; haunting final moments burned in my memory. All that is to say; the horse doesn’t want to die, Radahn is just a weak-minded and selfish prick for forcing it to live on when he should know better. For all pet owners or prospective pet owner out there, know this: You most likely will be the one that chooses when your pet will die, it will not make the decision easy for you, but that is your ultimate responsibility. If you’re a good human being, it’ll be one of the worse moments in your life and you will never forget it. But despite all that, there are few greater joys that those afforded by our loving animal friends.
Douglas
2022-10-12 15:15:30 +0000 UTCSo I just looked at my very first hour of playtime for Elden Ring. It started off I assume like most, looking around Limgrave. Before getting Torrent or gaining the ability to level up I wandered into the wrong fucking ruins. I ended up in Caelid. With no strong armor or weapons I fought a gauntlet over and over again to the boss. Found a falling star beast and promptly got out of the mine only to find the sky blood red and scarlet rot literally everywhere. learning that this entire area was created by the after effects of two people fighting, I lost my shit. That is environmental storytelling and powers scaling all at once. These Medevil post apocalyptic wilds, filled with Dino Dogs and Rot is surely one of the most striking areas in the game and a sure conversation starter amongst those getting into it.
Mateus Silva
2022-10-12 15:12:12 +0000 UTCI played the pre-patched version of Radahn in my first playthrough, and the patched-version on my second, and I can't think of a more dramatic change of experience in a FromSoft patch. Fighting him on my first playthrough was excruciating. Even once I mastered the pattern of dodging his gravity arrows so I wouldn't die before the fight began, his movements, speeds, and patterns were too difficult to read and anticipate. The desert battleground makes it hard to read distances, and he's big, so when you're up close there are camera issues with tracking his moves. Something would always cause me to die. After many, many hours of alternating approaches and failed attempts, I chose the coward's way. I summoned as many NPCs as I could, and then would stay the fuck away. They would plink at him doing next to no damage. Should I help them out and ready a bow and fire some arrows? Nope, too risky, that way lies folly. Stay on Torrent, stay far away. When one NPC dies find a new summon sign to replace them. It was tedious, it was boring, it was anti-climatic, it was deeply unsatisfying, but it worked. My second playthrough I was doing a no-summons* Guts build. Things had been going well, but I was nervous as hell about Radahn. But I did read about the patch, so I decided to dip in when I was in Caelid to see what I was up against. I didn't expect to win, I was lower level than my first playthrough, my weapon was doing less damage compared to my previous playthrough, and I had a worse moveset, and my previous solution wouldn't be available to me. Nonetheless, I beat him my first try without really any issues of note. It felt surreal. Almost like FromSoft said, "Yeah, we tried to do something interesting here, but it didn't really pan out. Sorry about that, this one's on us." * Nothing against summoning, I just wanted to try out no summoning for one playthrough.
Paul J.
2022-10-12 13:02:30 +0000 UTCI love thinking about the themes in Elden Ring, especially the ones that are in opposition to each other. The Golden Order/Greater Will is very big on pairs and symmetry: two fingers, the D twins, the bipartite God that is Marika/Radagon, etc. If you think about the Rot, one of the biggest aspects of it is breaking that symmetry by taking one thing away, whether that's Miquella and Malenia being separated, Malenia and Millicent each missing one arm, etc. Basically anything that's normally part of a pair, the Rot whittles down to one. There aren't many deeper lore connections to be made from this, I just think it's interesting how these themes and motifs repeat and reflect one another within the game. Or maybe I'm seeing patterns that aren't there--who knows!
Zack Voase
2022-10-12 06:15:02 +0000 UTCHi, long time listener first time writer. It has been several patches since I last beat Rahdahn. While the fight was epic in scale I could not get into it because of the loading screen tax whenever I died and had to use that portal again to get back to the boss fight. Eventually I gave up and used the rot dragon breath while throwing my allies at him. My girlfriend who was watching me play at the time kept poking fun at me for running away while the npcs did all the work. The icing on the cake for her was after the fight when Alexander and Blaid compliment you for being a mighty warrior. There was no honor in what I did but Rahdahn is too far gone to care anyway so it doesn't matter in my book. Keep up the great work guys!
Eric Kinn
2022-10-12 03:21:54 +0000 UTCCaelid is brimming with topics to discuss, but one thing I want to hear your opinions of was was the intentionality behind Malenia’s use of the scarlet bloom in Caelid. Though Malenia is a sympathetic character to a certain extent, her use of the scarlet rot on Radahn and the lands of Caelid draws the ire of much of the fanbase. Based on what we see of Caelid in-game, it's hard not to feel that way toward Malenia. She essentially set off a nuke that devastated a large portion of the land. A lot of fans assume that Malenia did this willingly. However, I never got the impression that Malenia deploying the rot during her fight with Radahn was a conscious choice. Malenia’s relationship with the rot is hard to ascertain, but she certainly didn’t seem to have a harmonious relationship with it, that being she didn’t welcome it, or display any desire to use it. This is pretty much headcanon, but the fact she trained with the master swordsman from legend who sealed away the rot in the first-place hints at the fact she was afraid of or despised the rot and wanted to have control over herself. That doesn’t seem like the behaviour of a person willing to use the powers of rot as a weapon. So, I believe when Malenia fought Radahn she was in such a weakened state, the rot took over and detonated in a form of self preservation. The rot didn’t want to lose its host, even if Malenia was fighting against it. In the end, this is purely academic because the rot still bloomed and doomed the lands of Caelid, but I think it's interesting to look at this event and examine what Malenia’s goals were and how she viewed her curse. So, what do you guys think, was Malenia being actively malicious and wanting to win at all costs, or did the rot finally win out and override her willpower?
Ethan Ward
2022-10-12 03:17:40 +0000 UTCI *LOVE* Caelid. Every second you spend there it feels like you’re ignoring a big, flashing nuclear waste warning sign. THIS PLACE IS NOT A PLACE OF HONOR screams every diseased mushroom tree, and blood swamp. It’s horrible and it *wants* you to get the FUCK out of it. I specifically want to shout out the background music. It’s queasy, and overbearing, and i swear there are sirens buried in the mix, ambiently there to jack up your anxiety. and did anyone else get visually fooled by the dogs/crows?… I felt like Fromsoft were using the same trick as in Demon’s Souls, where the big plagued ones in the Valley of Defilement look normal from a distance. Except way WAY scarier. realizing just how quickly one of those crows could hunt me down and how BIG they really were was,, humbling
sleepysmiles
2022-10-12 01:19:01 +0000 UTCCaelid has grown on me over time (teehehe). But seriously, when starting up Elden Ring Caelid was this daunting, horrible and frightening area off to the east. You can take a couple steps in, but the everything there seems to scream at you to "get out." However, after replaying the game I've come to enjoy the area a lot. It feels like a metaphor for Soulsborne games in general. Once you've got the knowledge, the skill, and the familiarity, all those big scary "get out" signs seem to say "welcome and enjoy your stay." That's especially true since it becomes an essential first stop for new character level boosting. Also, I had no idea Castle Redmane had a non-festival mode. Running into that crucible knight and his beast-boy buddy was very unexpected. Such shield breaking. Such death.
Ryan Anthony
2022-10-11 20:42:26 +0000 UTCI briefly mentioned in the comments specific to the Bestial Sanctum episode, but lore YouTuber SmoughTown made a very convincing case that Farum Azula was torn from the area directly behind and around the Bestial Sanctum. Makes sense that the Bestial Sanctum shares similar architecture. It is also interesting how players can carefully descend into that hollowed out area to explore and even find the Cinquedea dagger used by "high ranking beast clergymen." It might also explain why Maliketh is there as Garranq. Looking at the map, the gulf in upper Caelid shares a similar shape and size to Farum Azula. Anyway, really enjoyed the Caelid deep dive.
Bryant Ross
2022-10-11 20:22:40 +0000 UTCI remember the first time I saw the Monstrous Dog outside of Gowry's shack. Since I hadn't seen any others, I wasn't sure if it was an enemy or an NPC yet. But as I was assessing it from a distance, it turned its head to look at me. That visual, paired with the music getting to a part where its string section imitates the sound of swarming flies, made me think "I don't think I will... This, today" and I rode on past. Sidenote: What is it with this series and tying katanas to areas full of poison or skeletons? Alongside the preponderance of katanas that inflct self-injury, I feel as if there's some kind of meaning or statement there, but nothing that jives with them also being really good.
Sid Menon
2022-10-11 19:55:44 +0000 UTCWhy do the dogs in elden ring look like that the first dogs look a bit off then you find Caelid dogs and they’re skeletal bodies, white fur and sunken eyes are creepy to look at. Then you see the trex dogs why is this a thing? What happened to their front legs? I hate them more then any enemy in the game based on anatomy alone.
Kent Nero
2022-10-11 18:57:05 +0000 UTCLike others have stated, Caelid on a first playthrough was a defining experience for Elden Ring, but I want to talk about the man whose reputation seemed to echo within and outside of the game; Radahn. In game, Radahn is built up as the most powerful demigod, his towering presence being highlighted in the intro cutscene. That was more than intimidating enough, and not unlike some other bosses in this game, as much as I tried to steer clear of spoilers, the infamy of Radahn’s challenge permeated to me. This scared me off from going to face him until after finishing Volcano Manor and entering Leyndell, making him a bit easier but no less intimidating on a first playthrough. Learning to overcome that fear having faced him many times now, I love the choice I now have on rematches with Radahn; do you summon in the squad and charge in together, or go in solo and take on this legend one-on-one? I love the lore surrounding Radahn as well, and it makes him even more intimidating to think of what he was like in his prime. This beast sword slams you with ferocious speed, fires off gravity arrows, leaps into orbit to dive bomb you, all while holding an untold number of celestial bodies in place, is the mere rotted husk of what he apparently formerly was. It makes me think his utter commitment to holding up the heavens was of the upmost importance to him even while rotted, and while I like to think this is due to the threat of the beasts of the stars and Radahn being benevolent, it could very well be the threat Ranni poses to the Golden Order, since his dedication was fanatical. He’s very enigmatic in a plethora of ways, and I love it.
Lucas West
2022-10-11 05:42:21 +0000 UTCI can’t gush succintly enough about Caelid— a whole land festering like a wound, fetid-sounding music, my faves gurranq & millicent, the tragic sight of greyoll, all culminating in a spectacular boss fight. Spoilers, but i was so sad when okina invaded me later! We were at radahn fest together! Caelid is one of soulsborne's design heights, artistically & storytelling-wise: so incredibly rotten and raw and sad and horrifying. reminds me in parts of the southern reach, and even some of asoiaf’s world— a little of the ruins of valyria, a little of the desolation of the riverlands, etc. I’ll save my thoughts on the rot itself for when we reach the lake. Food for thought: gurranq is actually howling in the direction of the erdtree. I checked the map! Also, there's a sword monument stating that radahn halted the stars for sellia— i think in doing so he effectively stopped everyone's fates (like sellen's), and not just ranni's. But it’s speculation lol
Goldie
2022-10-11 00:49:17 +0000 UTCI really like the atmosphere at the festival, with the speech and everything. It is really something different. The fight with Radahn feels very epic, with the huge arena and tons of summons. I love the detail that Patches escapes immidiately if you summon him. It took me a while to realize that he escapes, I just thought he was killed, so I kept summoning him every time. I have completed the game now more than once, but I think Caelid has the only enemy I have not managed to beat yet. It is the golem down the cliffs next to a minor erdtree, where you have to carefully parkour down the branches. It's where you find one of the painting locations. I died so many times there. Love your channel, and always looking forward to the next episodes :)
Ernie
2022-10-10 21:07:19 +0000 UTCI ended up in Caelid via transporter trap within my first couple hours of play. I had gone into the game completely blind and that Beksinsky hellscape was a delightful and horrifying surprise. I missed that I needed to rest at a Site of Grace in order to teleport out (only activating them instead), and instead careened through Caelid with dogs, crows, pests, and dragons in tow until finally resting near the bridge to Redman Castle. When Melina then told me she had been testing me, and invited me to Roundtable, I initially perceived that this entire hellish adventure was choreographed by the game- would any chest have taken me here, as part of Melina's test? Knowing that that isn't entirely the case hasn't diminished that initial, intense narrative satisfaction and the meaning it gave my first proper adventure in the Lands Between. Elden Ring is full of those kind of narrative experiences discovery and it is one of my favorite parts of the game.
Joe Mecham
2022-10-10 20:18:26 +0000 UTCThe podcast series is incredible and Caelid may be my favorite part of the game as it feels similarly post-apocalyptic to Soma. More than, "oh no, the end happened!", both the Wau and the Scarlet Rot are neat looks into how does life, as a cancerous concept that 'must' exist, carry on in a new environment that destroyed life as we knew it? If there is a sequel, I hope we get to see that change carry forward. If only to see From's take on a fungal New Phyrexia.
Isaiah John
2022-10-10 20:14:11 +0000 UTCI'm going to come right out and say that on at least one playthrough (and perhaps on more than one), I defeated Radahn with nothing but the summons. Just me patiently cruising around on Torrent while Blaidd and Iron Fist Alex and friends do the rest. It takes some fortitude, but it works, and since the game lets you do it, it's nothing to be ashamed of. I actually think it's intended as a viable strategy. I get the sense that Radahn may have been buffed a bit in one of the patches, because it feels like he notices me more these days when I'm riding around like a coward, but hey, I can lose him easily enough. I'm on Torrent, and he's being dragged around by the resurrected corpse of Mr. Ed. Easiest demigod in the game, if you want him to be.
Matthew Bennett
2022-10-10 19:40:04 +0000 UTCHey, I'm a big fan of your work and listening to you from France so please excuse my English . When you spoke of the charred corpses in the redmane castle courtyard, I like to think that that's radhan's doing from when he went crazy with the scarlet rot and that his men had to keep him away on his private beach so he wouldn't kill every last one of them.(though that might not be lore accurate) By the way I stubled upon redmane for the first time in its festival state and killed radhan and was a bit disappointed that the castle was empty, its only 150 hours later when my friend needed help with defeating him that I found out it was a legacy dungeon with stuff to do in it. Felt real dumb. Thanks for all your great work! Stops me from getting bored at work and makes me want to play these amazing games over and over.
Louis Bean
2022-10-10 15:11:32 +0000 UTCI can't be the only one who unsuspectingly got warped to Dragonbarrow right at the start of the game and had to endure a TERRIFYING Torrent-abetted hurtle back to the relatively green and pleasant pastures of Limgrave. Dodging big-headed dogs, dragons and giant birds while an orchestra of detuned violins and giant mosquitoes buzzes away in the background - if there's one thing FromSoft have nailed, it's that feeling of being totally out of one's depth.
Charlie Frame
2022-10-10 10:16:19 +0000 UTCHey guys, posted this under an episode before, but have given it more thought now- regarding Malekith and his appearance in Faram Azula if he is previously killed is unlikely to be time based. If Blaidd is fought in the mist wood he respawns with dialogue suggesting bestial shadows cannot be killed while connected to their empyrean. This raises the question of how Malekith is killed on Faram Azula, and while there are many possible explanations, I prefer the idea of Marika deliberately severing the bond to allow his death and the erdtree to burn per her plan once she senses the giantsflame.
Artalam
2022-10-10 07:51:00 +0000 UTCHey guys, been listening since 2016 and just wanted to say thanks for all the work you do, the content is always top notch. Quick side note to listeners: listen to abject/exquisite suffering! I came to patreon for WOFF and BFSC but stayed for that dumb as fuck show that refuses to be about the games people request. Love it. Well if I don’t have a tale of big headed moronocity for you! I warped to the crystal tunnel immediately after getting torrent and after running around for an hour I arrived at…the dragonbarrow, ok that name is awesome, this place must be explored. At this point I thought caelid was some kind of alternate starting area and I was stunned by the difficulty From had gone for. Exploring the divine tower and: ooh fancy man in a white robe-one shot. Some soldiers with big shields-one shot. The most basic of foot soldiers-oh come on not again??? One. Shot. This was the hardest game I’d ever played and I hadn’t even fought a boss until I found it, a fog gate, boss healthbar, Godskin Apostle??? Oh hell yeah let’s GO. Needless to say I got absolutely pasted for an unknown period of time. I finally put him in the dirt drenched in my own sweat and tears, emerging from my room, what date was it? What time? I didn’t know, all I knew was the relief of finally being free of that boss. I then immediately realised I could have warped back to limgrave at any time. Fuck. I did use that awesome helix greatsword for the rest of the game though and going back to stormveil to curb stomp all who opposed was a lot of fun.
Kai Price-Goodfellow
2022-10-10 07:41:10 +0000 UTCLike many, my first exposure to Caelid was through being kidnapped by a cloud in a box, thrown into indentured servitude in a mine, and proceeding to escape only to look at the sky and say to myself "Oh, it's Hell". I then ventured around only to be exposed to the Ghost of Burger Kings Past in Sellia, before fleeing in the other direction and finally getting a view of the greater fields of Caelid. I can't for the life of me recall the source, but the landscape perfectly evokes *some* kind of scifi horror manga, from the bleeding alien coral, to the lonely patrols of truly alien pests. Hell.
Fenreliania
2022-10-10 04:53:36 +0000 UTCAfter conquering Margit in my first playthrough I was feeling empowered and decided to venture into caelid unaware of the difficulty spike I was about to encounter. I rode torrent around for a while, dodging and weaving past freakishly proportioned dogs and made it all the way to the divine tower of Caelid. I had no clue that divine towers were for great runes and thought it was just a really cool dungeon. Verticality is the most important aspect to me in fromsoftware’s level design so I was elated to find this imposing tower before me and was determined to conquer it. 3 hours later, after countless deaths from falling and that one asshole monk right before the fog wall I finally face the godskin apostle. I managed to get a hit in. Uh oh. My sword deals the smallest fraction of damage to the bosses health bar. Despite the frustration, it was a perfect introduction to Caelid: A place I was not at all prepared for.
Ethan Hoffman
2022-10-10 04:39:27 +0000 UTCThe festival was such a highlight of this game for me. From hasn’t done something quite like it (and honestly it showed) but it is such a cool idea that I hope they continue to shape in future games. Important in-world stories are always a staple in these games, but never on a scale that multiple character storylines overlap in a specific area like this. I’m on record that Caelid fucked my shit up, but this was a fantastic redeeming addition.
Josh Sanko
2022-10-10 03:33:27 +0000 UTCI found Caelid really unsettling in a way that most poison areas don't manage. The vision of fungal rot was visceral and set off the "I should'nt be here, this is air I shouldn't breathe" response for me really hard, like I was cleaning out an old house and found a dead animal or a pantry full of food that had been left for years. The only other time something on the other side of a screen has given me that feeling quite so well was the thing in the pool in Annihilation.
Luke Summerhayes, visionary host of the excellent Game Game Show podcast
2022-10-10 02:44:13 +0000 UTCSome say Caelid is the skeleton graveyard of Elden Ring, which I promptly ignored and slammed my head against the wave of Rot Hollows many, many times. But the region was so visually interesting that I HAD to explore it. Caelid has some of my favorite gameplay in all of Elden Ring and I enjoyed its overworld quite a bit more than the dungeons, which is not the case for the rest of the game. When I discovered I could lure the T-Rex Dogs into the path of the Redmane Knights outside of Fort Gael and watch them fight it out over and over, I couldn't contain my excitement and did exactly that, over and over.
Jared Mogen
2022-10-10 01:53:31 +0000 UTCI saw the smouldering wall and thought "fuck that" and found my way into Caelid the old fashioned way, through an amazing chest. Of all the incredible set pieces in ER the one that lingers in my memory best is trudging out of that godawful cave, only to find a wartorn landscape of pus and blood as far as I could see. I thought, will Torrent let me walk into the swamp? FromSoft wouldnt allow me to skip their swamp would they? Cue me mouth agape shouting to my wife in the next room, "TORRENT IS IMMUNE TO ROT! BEST GAME 2022" still reeling such a quality of life improvement was allowed, but I'm very glad it was.
Josh
2022-10-10 01:46:42 +0000 UTCThis is my first Fromsoftware game, and Caelid is just impressive in the worst way possible. I hate to be there, and want to leave, but not because it's a bad level. What, in your minds, make this such a terrible place to be, but it doesn't come across as poor level design?
Eric
2022-10-10 00:35:38 +0000 UTCOn my first time through the game I had a really hard time with the banished knights in Stormveil, so I kept exploring other parts of the game and coming back. One of the places I went was Caelid, far far before I should have. I explored the entire southern portion, running past my fair share of enemies, but I was still in my honeymoon period with the game and loved every second of it, despite the difficulty. Caelid holds a special place in my heart for being the most visually distinct part of the overworld in my eyes. Limgrave, Liurnia and the Altus Plateau are all grassy with trees, and it just feels so samey, even with their unique features. Caelid, on the other hand, is completely unlike the other areas, with its blood-red sky and sandy wasteland it really feels like there's a strong design behind it that was executed well, before the last parts of the game were rushed out (cough mountaintops cough) This is maybe the rot-tinted glasses talking, but I also think it has some of the better encounter design in the game with Ekzykes, a thoroughly unique dragon with rot attacks, the aptly named "impassable greatbridge",Commander O'neill in the center of the swamp, Sellia and learning to use and abuse Torrent's aerial mobility, and of course the absolute spectacle of Radahn's boss fight, even if it caused me a lot of trouble. It's let down by a lack of proper Legacy dungeon, but the area still holds up in my mind, especially compared to the other areas. Also "Niall" is pronounced nigh-ul, with less emphasis on the second syllable. Source: I'm Irish
Arsonyst
2022-10-09 22:21:01 +0000 UTCI'm somewhat of two minds about Caelid. It's grand and impressive, like everything in Elden Ring, but there's the sense that something is missing. I think I've identified what it is. One of my moderate gripes with Elden Ring is how the frequency of Graces and speed of Torrent lowers tension during exploration so much that it's barely present at all. I bring this up in relation to Caelid because it is, visually, perhaps the most imposing and grotesque location From have ever made, but the gameplay is the same as all the other open world regions. It doesn't convey its harshness and extreme nature through the experience of mechanically exploring it, just through what you're told and shown. I'm impressed and intrigued by the presentation, but it doesn't have that visceral experience that a Blighttown or VoD were able to create with their oppressive gameplay matching the oppressive atmosphere. Radahn is luckily the exact opposite and for that reason my favorite boss Elden Ring brought to the table. The enormous spectacle and sense of power, conveyed, even in his half-rotted state, justifies the setup of leading a small army against him. I love how it's the only main boss that really justifies getting on and off Torrent tactically, which also makes it feel like one of the most distinctly-Elden Ring bosses. You couldn't do this in the previous games and seeing how welll it works makes it feel like even more of a mistake that a CERTAIN late-game boss doesn't allow the same.
Joacim Tornéus
2022-10-09 22:06:54 +0000 UTCCaelid has become my favorite open world map to explore in Elden Ring over the course of four playthroughs. For some reason, I find it provides the best balance of challenge and reward regardless of playstyle (Liurnia being heavily magic focused and Altus Plateau being faith focused). Getting to Dragonbarrow early can also be greatly helpful in breaking the power curve. While the “rotted wasteland” motif and bizarre creature design was intimidating and nauseating on my first run, I’ve come to appreciate the design and density of all encounters, and the brilliantly presented vistas which are always in service of the primary story here — that of the battle between Radahn and Malenia, and its aftermath. Overall it highlights a huge strength of Elden Ring, and of From Software — the ability for the map, the land, and every single encounter to tell a good story.
Mystic Referee
2022-10-09 22:05:31 +0000 UTCMy first time in Caelid, I decided to see how much I could explore, with the goal of creating grace points for my future self. After getting Rot-butt-stomped to the north, I headed south. Assuming the pockmarked rot trees would deal damage, I followed the ground path, hounded by dogs, birds, and exploding undead. The pathway lead me south to redmane, and as I opened up that grace point, the animals fought the soldiers in the distance, creating a compelling vignette. I waited to rest at the site, getting free grace from their brawl. I then attempted to enter redmane castle, making it past the bridge, past the troll, and around the scaffolding, but I couldn’t beat the opera bats. I fled back to Limgrave, but the whole experience cemented Caelid’s importance to the feeling of Elden Ring’s open world. Caelid’s position as an imposing, unforgiving and accessible rotland means that it is ripe for unique player experiences. It welcomes the player in, then continually destroys them, telling a story through that destruction.
Joe MacPhail
2022-10-09 21:39:46 +0000 UTCI thought Caelid was pretty cool.Thanks guys love the pod
Paul
2022-10-09 21:38:07 +0000 UTC(I posted this under the Siofra River Well episode, but I thought I’d tidy it up and post here for ease of reading and aggregation) (Siofra falls under this Roundtable, right?) In the Siofra River Well episode, you guys discussed Torrent’s origins, and his connection to Ranni and possibly also the mysterious Snow Witch. There’s one thing I don’t think I’ve ever seen mentioned in relation to the topic: the Spirit Calling Bell! When Ranni gives us the Spirit Calling Bell, she says “I was entrusted this for thee, by Torrent’s former master”. This is (as far as I know) the only direct mention of Torrent’s former master, and I think it supports Gary’s Snow Witch theory, since calling spirits seems like a pretty witchy thing to do. In that same conversation, however, Ranni also gives us the Lone Wolf ashes. Their description reads: "Spirits of wolves chased from their pack. They later encountered a nameless Tarnished, who welcomed them as hunting companions." Whether the wolves and the bell come from the same place, I couldn't say, but it's interesting that the nameless tarnished wolf-bro doesn’t seem to be mentioned anywhere else either—and that description feels conspicuously vague. Was Torrent's former master a witch AND a pack-leading hunter? A hunter with a witch friend (perhaps a “Champion”, since the game seems to use that term as a proper noun sometimes)? Some other person, and this is all bullshit? Fuck if I know, but it certainly is a tantalizing mystery!
MrReciprocity
2022-10-09 21:02:15 +0000 UTCI don't have a lot to add to the Caelid discussion that hasn't been said, except my own twist on the chest trap in the dragon ruins: I hadn't puzzled out the "can't fast travel until you rest at a site of grace" part of the trap and didn't know you can't fast travel while in a dungeon, so in desperation I made a mad dash for Limgrave by pointing Torrent in the general direction and running past the various horrors and rot. Also, in reference to not being able to imagine someone playing offline: that's actually how I played a majority of Dark Souls 1 for the first time while on deployment in the navy in 2016. It was frustrating not being able to do 90% of the covenant content or summon players but I actually think it enhances the feeling of loneliness and making your way through a kingdom in decline (P.S. don't thank me for my service the US military is an evil institution that chews up working class ppl, feel free to exclude this part [or not])
Fatt Mox
2022-10-09 20:45:51 +0000 UTCThis is not a response to Caelid, but to the "Patches and Updates" conversation at the end of episode 230: In my limited exposure to PvP content in Elden Ring, I got the impression that they are balancing PvP and PvE separately to some extent, i.e. a certain spell will have the damage it does to players changed without having its PvE damage changed. You may want to fact check me on this.
ilia Nikiforov
2022-10-09 20:00:53 +0000 UTCRadahn was my wake-up call, pre-patches. After multiple attempts to close the distance, I started learning his patterns, dodging his fire by sound, what locations are safe to summon help from (the debris in the arena blocks his arrows), and generally playing it smart, I can say my mage earned his victory.
superkeaton
2022-10-09 19:58:50 +0000 UTCCaeled was a journey for me. I practically walked there on my first visit and not by the way of the trap chest at that one guard tower. I hated the D-Rexs ( Dog T Rex), the Crows and their fakeouts and grabs, the little "Hahaha" fuckers. All in all, Redahn hosts a great party. 10/10, would visit again.
Joe Binson
2022-10-09 19:39:24 +0000 UTCI think Caelid nails the balance of difficulty. If you know what you're doing and prepare, you can go in right from the start of the game, get everything you need, even kill Radahn with summons. But if you're careless, even if you're over-levelled, the wildlife, scarlet rot, and bosses will have no mercy.
Zaynation
2022-10-09 19:23:13 +0000 UTCI think what was shown of Caelid is largely what convinced me to get Elden Ring at launch. I was skeptical that the new open world formula would amount to a net positive, and from what was shown Limgrave looked nice but generic. However, the screenshots of the red sky and alien wasteland convinced me that something this unique was not just thrown together for the sake of variety in their open world, and thankfully that was correct. I think the T-rex dogs and giant crows should be more thankful I rooted for them, because they don't show it anytime I visit.
Maniadh
2022-10-09 19:08:21 +0000 UTCHey Guys! I’m a huge fan of your work and I’ve crushed nearly every episode of bonfire sidechat after beginning my journey with the games last year. I wanted to ask you guys if you found the secret down the backside of the beast’s sanctum? If you use torrent to platform your way down the back of the massive structure, you can find the Cinquedea, a dagger that looks similar if not exactly the same as the dagger that Gurranq uses to stab into his hand in Farum Azula in the late game, do you think it’s strange that you can find his weapon down here? Maybe because of the timey-wimey nature of his timeline, he threw it down here after his failure to protect the rune? Love you guys and shout out to my friend Alex!
Blake
2022-10-09 19:07:09 +0000 UTC
