Bonfireside Chat 203: An Introduction to Elden Ring
Added 2022-03-20 15:51:42 +0000 UTCOn this first big episode of the Elden Ring series, we go over Elden Ring's mechanics and generalities in broad strokes. What's returning from previous From games? What's been improved? What's brand new? We talk about as many systems and aesthetics as we can, in order to establish a basic understanding before we dive into more lore-heavy parts of the game.
In two weeks, we will talk about the Limgrave West portion of Elden Ring's world.
Comments
I think the most interesting part of you guys loving this so much is…..it plays, looks, and feels as if it’s dark souls 3. Probably just has to be all the intense tweaks they made on the side of the player
Jessie joy
2025-04-10 01:07:20 +0000 UTCJust hoped over today after the first few episodes on Apple podcasts great job that’s for being a answer to my elden ring prayers
J Ortega
2024-07-15 17:36:25 +0000 UTCI've been following this podcast for years and I'm so excited to delve deep into Elden Ring with y'all. Gary and Kole, I appreciate the passion, intelligence, criticism and empathy you use to discuss these games. The thought-provoking conversations raise the immersion and appreciation I have for all the From Software games. Thanks for what you do! Looking forward to this season.
Andrew Rogers
2022-04-06 18:13:31 +0000 UTCLoving this. I will be awaiting further episodes with eager ears.
Diana Tempest
2022-03-30 22:32:36 +0000 UTCSO glad to have you back on a From game! I really appreciate your clear stance on safe spaces and git gud BS.
Jason Tiefel
2022-03-30 00:50:12 +0000 UTCit's true, the game has so many variations of "weird little humanoid-ish freaks with uncanny-valley faces and demi-human growls". a delight the vulgar miltia you mentioned are a favorite, as well as a breed of certain geriatric-faced singing bat-people.
blinkbat
2022-03-25 20:06:09 +0000 UTCthis is awesome, I'm curious how you supplement this build, ie, do you hop in with weapons and damaging spells or do you manage to stay mostly hands-off?
blinkbat
2022-03-25 19:59:45 +0000 UTCI would like foot stomp Gary's point about "fucked up little dudes". The moment I got a "Vulgar Militia Cleaver" and learned that the Vulgar modifier referred to the whole Militia, and not just the single Cleaver, was pure joy. Looking forward to you guys' future discussions of all things mean, lean, and filthy.
Conner Reid
2022-03-23 23:15:56 +0000 UTCI love the excitement you have for ER. I was "in the now" with you guys during DS2, and I remember feeling that excitment as well. I didn't hear BFC for DS3 until the last few months, which led me here. Anyway, I thought I would share this... A YouTuber I just discovered and a great video. Cheers! "Elden Ring Feels Like The End" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m328XJ1eG84&t
Crash Jones
2022-03-23 15:10:21 +0000 UTCI hope they do it at the start of every episode. Otherwise how will people know their virtue
William
2022-03-23 03:17:44 +0000 UTCHey folks…loved the first Patreon exclusive episode. As a member of the LGBT community, I naturally assume every podcast that doesn’t directly assert that I am welcome is out to *literally* kill me, so thanks for the disclaimers at the top that I’m safe. Can’t wait for the next episode!
Xavier Bertolino
2022-03-22 15:35:47 +0000 UTCA brilliantly detailed introductory episode! Great job guys & can't wait for the rest of this packed season!
Shaun Sannerude
2022-03-22 11:51:14 +0000 UTCI never knew about the group password until now! So its "duckfeed" and "Flock"?
Sabra
2022-03-21 23:36:51 +0000 UTCcan't tell you how glad i am to hear gary say this is his favorite From game. that thing you said about DS1 in comparison is so accurate. DS1 is forever my favorite game of all time but in some ways I do think ER is their best game
Zach Evans
2022-03-21 18:55:40 +0000 UTCI am currently working on a Summons build. The build is split between Int and Faith. My Incantations buff and/or heal my spirits, and my sorceries summon undead spirits. I also have Rosus's Axe (because its weapon art summons spirits) and the Jellyfish Shield because it is literally the head of a Spirit Jellyfish. Its just like Gary said. I have an arsenal of pokemon and I have to summon the right one for the right job.
Tozkat
2022-03-21 17:36:58 +0000 UTCVery impressed by the game overall despite a pretty weak early impression (found several mini-dungeons before the first legacy dungeon, thought the first region of the map was all there was, wasn't ready for more Souls-to-the-letter play), and really happy with lots of mechanical aspects, though eventually the latter-game super-tanky and super-deadly bosses ran me down and I couldn't stick with it anymore. Glad I got to YouTube the rest, and maybe someday I'll be down for another playthrough (or maybe this season will give me that itch early). Still very excited for a nice long season on the game, honestly moreso than I was ever looking forward to the game itself.
Greg O.
2022-03-21 16:39:30 +0000 UTCI agree, I'd love to see the GRRM manuscript for this game so we can see the level of detail he imagined. Also, some people say he didn't write the story, he just wrote the worldbuilding, but I think what they miss is that most of the story of Elden Ring is the story of what happened in the recent past. You reconstruct this as you progress. There are actually two parts to the story of ER- as Miyazaki says, the player's actions are the story of the game. And second, the story of what happened in the past, which is what I credit GRRM with. So it really does form a major part of the story of this game.
Nathaniel
2022-03-21 16:32:20 +0000 UTCThey should add an option to invade the world of the person who puts a message down so you can kill those who troll in a boring fashion
Caden
2022-03-21 14:06:50 +0000 UTCI hope they correct this in the next episode since they aren’t clear on it, as it is a very significant feature in terms of enabling cooperative play (and even pvp). The small golden effigy, when used, sends your sign to all pools you have activated (I believe) in a region/zone. At that point, anyone who had used a Furlcalling Finger Remedy can see your sign and summon you for assistance. Someone who assists to the boss kill is rewarded with runes, a Rune Arc, and any item drops they find from enemies before being sent home. The major innovation here is lessening the need to guess where to find signs - summoning pools are often found at the beginning of a mini dungeon or legacy dungeon, before a major boss or field boss, and other locations that may be challenging. My partner and I have been playing through the entire game in coop which is much easier to do in Elden Ring than it was in Dark Souls and DS3.
Justin Zode
2022-03-21 04:19:47 +0000 UTCSomeone please make Chapo Sen's Fortress
Conor Fellin
2022-03-21 02:44:30 +0000 UTCI’m loving this game. Super excited to listen to Bonfireside while playing. im pretty new to Fromsoft games. Started with the Demon Souls Remake last year and played all of them since. listened to each corresponding season of Bonfireside while playing. excited to finally listen as it comes out! Kole & Gary seem like rad dudes. They’re super down to earth & fun to listen to
Eli
2022-03-21 01:26:23 +0000 UTCI cannot describe how happy it made me to hear Gary say this is his favorite From game. I’m so unbelievably excited for this season!
Cale Barber
2022-03-21 01:02:36 +0000 UTCohhh i’m so excited! i dont have the game until next week and ive been semi-judicious with spoilers, so a couple times this episode you guys revealed something that moved me to do a triumphant fist-pump. This might just end up being my favorite video game lol
sleepysmiles
2022-03-20 23:56:34 +0000 UTCAgreed, the mini dungeons and the horse combat are both very underwhelming to me. I think the mini dungeons could've been really cool if they had more to do with the region (or even the legacy dungeons) around them.
Jensen Yancey
2022-03-20 23:00:25 +0000 UTCI will be honest I don't like the mini dungeons.. they feel just one step above chalice dungeons in that they're not fully proc gen, but you only have three different biomes --it gets repetitive very quickly, and the bosses are either reused bosses or reused enemies that they pretend is a boss. Its even more insulting when you run into a story boss just hanging out in a mini-dungeon for no reason, and in many cases it is clear that the "default miniboss arena" is just too small to actually fight some of the larger bosses (Such as Magma Wyrm Macar or Fallingstar Beast)
Dani Doyle
2022-03-20 21:41:54 +0000 UTCIt’s really great being able to play along while listening to this season 😁 glad you guys love the game too!
TheEarthquake
2022-03-20 21:07:07 +0000 UTCWonder if you'll talk about the 23,945 things I think you might talk about....
Tracewidth
2022-03-20 20:59:09 +0000 UTCOooh what’s the group PW?
Eli
2022-03-20 20:49:08 +0000 UTCIt’s been awesome using the group password and seeing all the messages and bloodstains 😂
Daisy
2022-03-20 20:04:19 +0000 UTCOur heroes return!!
Make Ballet
2022-03-20 19:02:42 +0000 UTCWhile I agree that Elden ring is a very good from soft game one thing that I don't really like that could be better is some redundancy in unique items meaning the ability to find some of the important items in more ways then one in case the player misses them some examples are the knives for the ashes system and the crafting recipe books. I have recently complete the game and was pretty through with my exploration and I ended it without having any recipes for the status curing items which was annoying in some places. In fact the only redundant placement that I know of is that you can buy the spirt summoning bell from the bell maiden at roundtable hold if you don't get it from Ranni which is good since that is a major mechanic of the game. Besides that I also find that they place more of an emphasis on the incantations and not the sorceries and wish they were more balanced since you are guaranteed to find an incantation seller at roundtable hold when you get there while the earliest sorcery seller is hidden in a ruin somewhere and you never get one at roundtable hold.
Drashin
2022-03-20 19:00:46 +0000 UTCHooray! This is also my first FromSoft game at launch and I’m super excited to be on the journey with everyone!
Joey
2022-03-20 18:45:05 +0000 UTCNot a definitive answer on what summoning pools “do”, but certainly what they seem like to me is the ability for those wishing to be summoned to spread their sign all around the place. If you use the small golden effigy you will not just be placing a summon sign wherever you are standing, it will go to every summoning pool you’ve activated in (I assume) the zone you’re in. Eg. I just posted up outside the main dungeon of Liurana and when using that item I would get summoned to dungeons that weren’t where I was
Eli Leslie
2022-03-20 18:39:01 +0000 UTCSo excited, been waiting for this!!
Justin Zode
2022-03-20 18:35:19 +0000 UTCPraise the Elden Ring! \o/
lowkeygrows
2022-03-20 17:39:07 +0000 UTCLet's goooo! Thanks for the hard work fellas! I'm excited for my first time actually playing along with the podcast!
GreatVegetable
2022-03-20 17:21:41 +0000 UTCAnother episode of my favourite podcast!!
Asko Häivälä
2022-03-20 17:14:55 +0000 UTCThis is the first time I picked up a FromSoft on launch and the upcoming Bonfireside Chat coverage was a big factor. So excited to get into it; I cannot seem to put this game down!
Corey Hiscocks
2022-03-20 16:44:36 +0000 UTCIt’s here!!!
John Mickey
2022-03-20 16:44:19 +0000 UTCWaiting for new episodes of BSC feels like waiting for Elden Ring all over again!
Chris Hudson
2022-03-20 16:30:50 +0000 UTCWonderfully wonderful! Thank you.
Adrockski
2022-03-20 16:23:53 +0000 UTCPs. Sunday just got a whole lot better. Cheers!
Crash Jones
2022-03-20 16:21:52 +0000 UTCWhoop whoop.
Crash Jones
2022-03-20 16:21:19 +0000 UTCYay!
Benjamin Loveless
2022-03-20 16:00:29 +0000 UTC✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️
Connor Cox
2022-03-20 15:53:32 +0000 UTC
