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Bonfireside Chat 202: Elden Ring First Impressions

Rise, Tarnished, and attend the first episode about Elden Ring! There's no way to describe the great unclenching that happened when we realized that Elden Ring is, in fact, good. Whether that bears out over the course of the entire game remains to be seen, but we have high hopes. This episode covers our first impressions after about a week of having the game, and we also lay out our current reckon on how the season will shape up.

If this is your first time here, we're Gary Butterfield and Kole Ross, a duo of hosts who make Bonfireside Chat. Since 2013 we've talked about Souls games in high detail, in addition to talking about FromSoft's earlier games, their influences, and the whole galaxy of Soulslikes that spun off of Dark Souls' popularity.

This show comes out every other Sunday, and it's normally available only to our [Patrons](http://patreon.com/duckfeedtv). If you back at the $5 tier you gain access to [every Premium episode of Bonfireside Chat](https://www.bonfireside.chat/tags/premium), you can listen to hundreds of hours of patron-exclusive content. If you decide to back us, you can [check out how to get your content by looking at this post.](https://www.patreon.com/posts/how-to-redeem-63283880)


This episode and the next episode, covering the game's general mechanics and its opening, will be free for all. We really appreciate you listening.

Bonfireside Chat 202: Elden Ring First Impressions

Comments

I’ll be interested to see how they feel in the later game lol

Jessie joy

Yay!!! I made it :) Looking forward to the season guys.

Crash Jones

Excited to hear what ya'll have to say. I've followed FROM's games since the PSX days, it is incredible to see how far they have come

Gene Luck Pickerd

Right I’m new here. Ty for the clarification haha

jaccob hanley

Episodes come out every other week. See here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/63691521

Duckfeed.tv

Was a new episode released yesterday? (Sunday) I can’t seem to find it

jaccob hanley

Exciting! And you did touch on the topic a bit later on in this recording. Finally I just wanna say that I realized I probably ripped the movie analogy from the show, which is funny to me

engrams

Scroll down a little in the Patreon feed. There are several recent posts about how to access premium content

Wade Hausken

Most excited I've ever been to sub (re-sub in this case, I followed for years but have sprinkled my sub budget around!). Elden Ring is so much fun. I look forward to creating a new character just for this who will follow through at the pace of the episodes. Doing this with DS1, 2, and BB was one of my favorite gaming experiences ever.

Spooky Villages

Saw this appear on my podcast feed and instantly joined the patreon. Bonfireside Chat, IMO, is the best FromSoft/DarkSouls/Soulsborne podcast.

Anthony McKinney

Super excited for this season. Gary really hit on something, describing this as a "Heaven Apocalypse" because it feels like Valhalla for FROM game characters. All of them in fact. The setting being called "The Lands Between" is no accident.

Darrin Michelson

Its like a witcher getting prepped for a monster hunt

Tyko 3

I saw this was a thing again so i have to catch back up but I can not express how the opening for the show made me feel. I've missed you guys

Eric Rugh

I slept on crafting until about 50 hours in. Hit a boss that was weak to holy damage and was super tanky against my build. I crafted some holy bombs and absolutely wrecked him. I started using crafting more and it's actually super useful and adds a lot, but what's great about this game is that you don't have to interact with that mechanic at all if you don't want but if you do, it's actually very viable.

Isaac Ropati

I cant believe I havent beat this game yet! Im losing my mind!

Cinnamon Toast Cunt

So excited for this season!

Angel

Thank the sky wizards we can respec

Brian Cecchinato

My biggest take away… trying to generalize seems to be a big no-no

Brian Cecchinato

My biggest take away from this game early on was the realization: "Oh it keeps going...". I'm 50 hours in and I still have that feeling. Really excited for this season. Keep up the great work!

Taylor Osbourne

I am very new to patreon and such, since I am a patron will the premium BSC episodes appear here in the Patreon app? Love you guys so much, ive completely given my life and soul to elden ring and it hasn't disappointed me once.

Will Bogue

I also just hit 100 hours. The only thing I can say that doesn't necessarily have that Fromsoft spark are the caves, but honestly even those are good. They aren't meant to be legacy dungeon level, and they always at least have a boss.

Will Bogue

My plan is to move through into ng+ and give it another go after I get bored exploring. I'm nowhere close to finishing the game, however.

franticapnea

That was all in the last six months or less, now the whole family is playing Elden Ring - I’m 120 hours in at level 80, and only defeated the first two Shardbearers as of today. Growing up with games like Quest for Glory, playing many MMOs, and falling in love with Outward which is similar in concept, Elden Ring is our dream game And I subscribed to your patreon at long last to hear the Elden Ring episodes. BSC has been a huge part of my life and the through moment to moment exploration has made me feel like I’m playing myself. I am almost as excited for this season as I was for the game itself, and can’t wait to spend many more hours playing the game and listening to my favorite podcast as a patron. May the flames guide thee!

Justin Zode

Hi! Long time listener, first time caller. Not that long though. I tried dark souls on Xbox 360 years ago and got destroyed by the tutorial area demon. Didn’t get it. After years of enjoying games like Remnant, Outward, and Lords of the Fallen that took heavy inspiration from Dark Souls, I tried DSR so I could talk about it with my brother, who was a big fan. I’m a big fan of podcasts and found yours while looking for something Dark Souls to listen to. Immediately fell in love with Bonfireside Chat, listening to every Dark Souls episode from the beginning, and after beating Dark Souls we got Dark Souls 3 and played through that coop with my fiancée, my brother, and my nine year old and eleven year old. We had an amazing time and also listened to all of your Dark Souls 3 content.

Justin Zode

This is going to be good.. I'm further than where you were when you recorded this and I'm positive there's going to be an almost endless amount to discuss. This game is a dream

Nathaniel

Take your time with this Gary and Kole. Absolutely no rush. Take as many episodes as you feel you need for this. I feel like a kid again with Elden Ring. It reminds me of playing Mario 64 for the first time as in a game I love is taken to a new groundbreaking place. Beating all of the other Souls games has trained me for this moment. It is a strange feeling of previous mastery meeting new challenges and discovery with the added verbs of jump and crouch. As a veteran Soulsborne player, the world feels like my playground.

Dustin Burt

I have to say, I was a little nervous about this season. My goodness, this first impressions has alleviated all my concerns! I love that you're taking your time, savouring the game, as we all should because its fucking amazing! Love the occasional guest to talk about the game in general. So looking forward to this season of BSC!!!!

Ak1raTron

We will probably chat about that at some point. I have Opinions! -GB

Duckfeed.tv

ahhh! im so glad that you guys are loving this as much as i (and seemingly everyone) is. really looking forward to the rest of the season

Zach Evans

Wooooo we back baby!!!!

Randall

Getting to enjoy a new From game and a new season of BSC contemporarily for a second time...what a treat! BSC got me in the door to Duckfeed and over the last five years you guys far and away have the most hours listened to in my podcatcher stats.

Gabriel Tindall

So happy to have you back on the Souls Train. Umbasa!

Cian Tormey

Umbasa

Joelle

You guys are the thing that helped me get into the souls games thanks to your dark souls 2 season years after you guys made it. Now That I’m caught up I can’t wait to play along with you guys this season!

Jonah Guibbert

I'm nearing the 100-hour mark and can report that (a) I still have not uncovered the entire map and (b) I've been waiting for the game to have its Demon Ruins/Lost Izalith moment and it hasn't happened yet; nothing feels rushed and even now, I'm still encountering stuff that's making my jaw drop. Really hope the game doesn't let you down. It hasn't for me. It's... kinda perfect, in fact.

Mike Suskie

Finally! I've been waiting for new episodes at least as much as the game itself. I've listened to the older episodes multiple times over and they always bring me comfort when I'm feeling down and I cant thank you enough for that. Praise the sun!!

Asko Häivälä

Hey! I'm a Bonfireside Chat listener who subscribed during DS3 and didn't get around to cancelling my subscription between the games. Now I'm back and I've finally checked out some of the other shows I've paid to have access to, they're great! Also Elden Ring is incredible, I really think ds3 (as I agree with you) suffered by ds2's poor critical reception (hard to verify) so they couldn't be too different. I'm not a Star Wars fan, but it's like the Force Awakens of souls--I liked it, I thought it was well-made for the most part, but it had a ton of baggage from a better movie/game (though I have no particular attachment to any of the movies, my metaphor begins to fall apart lol). Anyway my bad for the rambling/long comment, I have a short question: if Elden Ring had been called Dark Souls 4, would it be a good Dark Souls game? I hope this is the right place to ask questions.

engrams

Cinnamon Toast Cunt

Umbasa! I’ve been looking forward to hearing you guys talk about Elden Ring since it was announced 🤗 I’m 48 hours in and I’m smitten! Hope that you both keep enjoying the game, and thank you so much for all yir marvelous podcasts

Morgan

Nice to hear you two started out with emphasis on player expression. There's substantial design innovation and excellence here.

Tracewidth

So stoked about this. Listened along for my Dark Souls playthrough and have been a huge fan ever since! I'm loving the game and glad you are too!

GreatVegetable

I'm glad you fellas are enjoying the game! I'm very much looking forward to the season and your discussion of the game. What a gem this is. I think you hit it right on the nose in the beginning: it's hard as hell, but it feels so good to change my plan, build, and loadout in response to a death rather than crossing my fingers for a better execution. I've played very deep into the game, and while I've encountered a couple bosses that have disappointed in terms of where they fall on the bullshit meter, that component of planning and responding to my deaths has made those rare fights much more manageable, and they haven't sullied my experience at all.

Joe Mecham

I'm so happy to hear you guys do this game, I've played every Soulsbournkiro game listening to you and appreciate you so much.

Andrew Svensk

Been looking forward to this starting as much as I was to play the game.

Robert Mimms


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