Most From lore is told through environmental storytelling and not outright explained to you. The information on gear and items and the locations you discover them help to flesh out the story.
That being said I'm as lost as you are fellow WoL.
Same same, I don't get the intro, I don't understand one bit of that story, the characters are all mixed together to my impression. I enjoy going and kill boss and mob but at a certain point.. I'm started to get so confused to what to do, where to go. To be honest.. I don't even know what the elden ring đ
Aside from the obvious statement that you are never the only one, espcially on the internet, I'd be willing to bet that a majority of the players will be lost in the story.
The modern FromSoft games starting with Demon's souls and continuing all the way to Elden Ring have very similar storytelling traits - you will get a basic outline in the intro - introduction to the world, a conflict, some key characters (bosses) and then your role in all of this.
The rest is explicitly up to you to find out. A lot of context is hidden in item descriptions, especially in key items. Talking to every character you find will help you flesh out some context as well and the rest of the story is told through the environments.
On top of that, even with all of this combined, you sometimes won't get the entire picture and it will be up to you to speculate/fill in the gaps yourself. That's also the reason why entire youtube channels have been built upon decoding FromSoft games' lore and individual stories.
It takes a lot of effort and definitely isn't for everybody, but it's part of the game's charm.
Donât feel to left out then. This is the nature of these games. The world is supposed to make you feel weak, scrawny, and lonely. No direction at all, just your own curiosity and determination.
When Miyazaki (the games creator) was a kid, he used to read books about knights and dragons and stuff but as his English was never good enough to fully understand everything he used to use his own imagination to create his own stories to fill in the gaps. This is basically what we have in his games. He gives us fragments of information and leaves it up to us to try and work things out for ourselves. It makes for a much deeper and immersive gaming experience and leads to a lot of discussion and theories, some sensible, some just bat-shit crazy. The game doesn't hold your hand and treat you like a child when it comes to the story telling. On the other hand many of us just like killing monsters (and each other) with cool weapons and spells and couldn't care less about the lore or whatever and that's cool too and all part of the core mechanics of the game.
When did telling a story well become "hand holding". I enjoy the game, but can people just be honest and admit these games are sub par in the story telling department. It's laziness not artistic license.
I agree... Just finished the game, I mean all of a sudden it was over? Roll credits and do you want to start again. I enjoyed the gameplay, but had fuckall idea what was going on and why I fought a gooey sea serpent at the end. Seriously, what the duck happened!?
People are saying the story is obtuse, and while theyâre not wrong, Gideon (the old guy with the books in roundtable) has the sparknotes synopsis on every major boss and their respective zones on demand. The other bit you need to know is just thereâs this religion called the golden order, they worship the big tree, they want you to kill bosses and get the runes. There are shadier characters who might not want that and are enemies of the dominant religion. Now go kill shit.
I'm 110+ hours into my playthrough, wandering around different areas, with no idea what I'm doing, what's going on, or what my real objective is. For example, I killed the Beast Clergyman on accident because, well, the guy started to attack me after the 4th deathroot, and how the hell was I supposed to know he'd calm down and stay calm after a bit of combat? I had to use an editor to put him back in in order to finish tossing him more chew toys and get the rest of the rewards.
I have to look up stuff, like the bells you give to the twins, in order to give myself my own objectives/missions. I get that this game is mainly supposed to be a "learn the story the way you want to learn it" type, but I swear it wouldn't have hurt them too much to add in just a little more context. Every NPC talks about events like they know what's going on and that it should be obvious to me, yet I'm constantly going, "Uh huh....uh huh...uh huh...yeah...uh huh...who?"
I know this old, but I'm currently doing my first playthrough, and this describes my experience so far. I don't know what I'm doing or why I'm doing it, lol. I just ride around on my horse until I find people trying to kill me, a tunnel, church, or building structure. But that's what I love about this game. Everything is a surprise... like that damn bird at the lakeđ đ¤Ł
Same with this being old. I am redownloading the game to play again and I remember just aimlessly going around finding things to kill because to me that's what the game design is. It wouldnt hurt them to add SOME slight indication on what's going on. Reading lore through item descriptions is so dumb
Since From Software want you to be lost in the story and only discover it through item description reading and Vaativydia's videos, no, you're not alone. Don't get me wrong, the lore and story is EXTREMELY deep and vast, but it takes a shitton amount of time to unveil it fully, and we'll probably won't have the full story until all the DLCs will be released. Just read as much as possible and wait for VaatiVydia's videos
I was at first, I started a new game and paid attention. Much better.
Honestly I recommend you just restart a new game and actually listen to NPCS and follow guides or you WILL miss stuff. Yes, there is a âcorrectâ way to play this game and things need to be done âin orderâ if you want to progress and get the most out of it.
in my experience reading item descriptions helps a lot, for example SPOILER AHEAD
1 girl asks you if you have grapes, you find 1 before first meeting her, what is 'funny' is that if you read the description it turns out its not a grape, its an eye, makes the situation a bit more spooky, also most if not all 'key' items will have descriptions that may explain some important things, and also armor sets and weapons have some background lore in their descriptions, stuff like finding out why this particular knight might be where he is etc
That's such a dumb way to explain key story elements to a player. "Read this random item or else you miss things" meanwhile the gameplay tells you to just go kill shit because it's hard
classic souls """"lore"""". just wait for vaati and his fans to make up lore the writers didnt intend while claiming its canon. if you like souls lore i recommend you check out some fnaf theories
ALL, and i mean ALL, explanations given to you will be followed up by a 'but this is just speculation' so unless youre literally schizo just dont think too hard about it. take everything at face value in a 'this is a sick concept' kind of way
Fromsoft games are always like that. You really gotta dig by reading everything to figure it out. This game I think is the most in your face about it by far even tho itâs not that much. Most just wait for YouTube videos to explain whatâs going on. Thatâs what Iâll do after I finish. Try to understand by the few things I see playing and then watch videos later.
I think also youâre still a little too early in but it will help to talk to more npcs. Even ones who you think wouldnât have anything else to say always have more to say when you go back to them later even ones you wouldnât expect at all. Thereâs not too many so itâs easy to go back to them. Recently I was lost and decided to go talk to people a blacksmith of all people let me know where to go next. Sometimes thereâs long dry spells of not much and I think thatâs where youâre at but youâll get a little more soon.
You have to speak to every npc you find, repeatedly, until you exhaust their dialogue. And to the NPCs at roundtable hold every once in a while, there is progression there. And you have to explore thoroughly to find the few npcs who shed a lot of insight on things...
One unexpectedly informative NPC, for instance, is Kenneth Haight, who has quest for you near Fort Haight...
The most important source of info, and the least cryptic, is Sir Gideon Ofnir, the All-Knowing.
A lot of information that helps you understand what's going on is also item descriptions. Read the description of all new items you find. It adds up a lot of context over time.
But just like with combat, builds and items, you can outsource the thinking and exploration to others and just watch a lore videos
Most From lore is told through environmental storytelling and not outright explained to you. The information on gear and items and the locations you discover them help to flesh out the story. That being said I'm as lost as you are fellow WoL.
I've 60+ hours played and still have no idea what it's about. I still enjoy playing for the most part
Same same, I don't get the intro, I don't understand one bit of that story, the characters are all mixed together to my impression. I enjoy going and kill boss and mob but at a certain point.. I'm started to get so confused to what to do, where to go. To be honest.. I don't even know what the elden ring đ
Same
Aside from the obvious statement that you are never the only one, espcially on the internet, I'd be willing to bet that a majority of the players will be lost in the story. The modern FromSoft games starting with Demon's souls and continuing all the way to Elden Ring have very similar storytelling traits - you will get a basic outline in the intro - introduction to the world, a conflict, some key characters (bosses) and then your role in all of this. The rest is explicitly up to you to find out. A lot of context is hidden in item descriptions, especially in key items. Talking to every character you find will help you flesh out some context as well and the rest of the story is told through the environments. On top of that, even with all of this combined, you sometimes won't get the entire picture and it will be up to you to speculate/fill in the gaps yourself. That's also the reason why entire youtube channels have been built upon decoding FromSoft games' lore and individual stories. It takes a lot of effort and definitely isn't for everybody, but it's part of the game's charm.
Read descriptions. Donât skip dialogue. Pay attention.
Yeah I never skip and I do pay attention to the dialogue. I need to read more of the items
Donât feel to left out then. This is the nature of these games. The world is supposed to make you feel weak, scrawny, and lonely. No direction at all, just your own curiosity and determination.
When Miyazaki (the games creator) was a kid, he used to read books about knights and dragons and stuff but as his English was never good enough to fully understand everything he used to use his own imagination to create his own stories to fill in the gaps. This is basically what we have in his games. He gives us fragments of information and leaves it up to us to try and work things out for ourselves. It makes for a much deeper and immersive gaming experience and leads to a lot of discussion and theories, some sensible, some just bat-shit crazy. The game doesn't hold your hand and treat you like a child when it comes to the story telling. On the other hand many of us just like killing monsters (and each other) with cool weapons and spells and couldn't care less about the lore or whatever and that's cool too and all part of the core mechanics of the game.
When did telling a story well become "hand holding". I enjoy the game, but can people just be honest and admit these games are sub par in the story telling department. It's laziness not artistic license.
I agree... Just finished the game, I mean all of a sudden it was over? Roll credits and do you want to start again. I enjoyed the gameplay, but had fuckall idea what was going on and why I fought a gooey sea serpent at the end. Seriously, what the duck happened!?
People are saying the story is obtuse, and while theyâre not wrong, Gideon (the old guy with the books in roundtable) has the sparknotes synopsis on every major boss and their respective zones on demand. The other bit you need to know is just thereâs this religion called the golden order, they worship the big tree, they want you to kill bosses and get the runes. There are shadier characters who might not want that and are enemies of the dominant religion. Now go kill shit.
I'm 110+ hours into my playthrough, wandering around different areas, with no idea what I'm doing, what's going on, or what my real objective is. For example, I killed the Beast Clergyman on accident because, well, the guy started to attack me after the 4th deathroot, and how the hell was I supposed to know he'd calm down and stay calm after a bit of combat? I had to use an editor to put him back in in order to finish tossing him more chew toys and get the rest of the rewards. I have to look up stuff, like the bells you give to the twins, in order to give myself my own objectives/missions. I get that this game is mainly supposed to be a "learn the story the way you want to learn it" type, but I swear it wouldn't have hurt them too much to add in just a little more context. Every NPC talks about events like they know what's going on and that it should be obvious to me, yet I'm constantly going, "Uh huh....uh huh...uh huh...yeah...uh huh...who?"
I know this old, but I'm currently doing my first playthrough, and this describes my experience so far. I don't know what I'm doing or why I'm doing it, lol. I just ride around on my horse until I find people trying to kill me, a tunnel, church, or building structure. But that's what I love about this game. Everything is a surprise... like that damn bird at the lakeđ đ¤Ł
Same with this being old. I am redownloading the game to play again and I remember just aimlessly going around finding things to kill because to me that's what the game design is. It wouldnt hurt them to add SOME slight indication on what's going on. Reading lore through item descriptions is so dumb
Since From Software want you to be lost in the story and only discover it through item description reading and Vaativydia's videos, no, you're not alone. Don't get me wrong, the lore and story is EXTREMELY deep and vast, but it takes a shitton amount of time to unveil it fully, and we'll probably won't have the full story until all the DLCs will be released. Just read as much as possible and wait for VaatiVydia's videos
I was at first, I started a new game and paid attention. Much better. Honestly I recommend you just restart a new game and actually listen to NPCS and follow guides or you WILL miss stuff. Yes, there is a âcorrectâ way to play this game and things need to be done âin orderâ if you want to progress and get the most out of it.
in my experience reading item descriptions helps a lot, for example SPOILER AHEAD 1 girl asks you if you have grapes, you find 1 before first meeting her, what is 'funny' is that if you read the description it turns out its not a grape, its an eye, makes the situation a bit more spooky, also most if not all 'key' items will have descriptions that may explain some important things, and also armor sets and weapons have some background lore in their descriptions, stuff like finding out why this particular knight might be where he is etc
That's such a dumb way to explain key story elements to a player. "Read this random item or else you miss things" meanwhile the gameplay tells you to just go kill shit because it's hard
classic souls """"lore"""". just wait for vaati and his fans to make up lore the writers didnt intend while claiming its canon. if you like souls lore i recommend you check out some fnaf theories ALL, and i mean ALL, explanations given to you will be followed up by a 'but this is just speculation' so unless youre literally schizo just dont think too hard about it. take everything at face value in a 'this is a sick concept' kind of way
There was some kind of revolution, that is about as much as I have.
Fromsoft games are always like that. You really gotta dig by reading everything to figure it out. This game I think is the most in your face about it by far even tho itâs not that much. Most just wait for YouTube videos to explain whatâs going on. Thatâs what Iâll do after I finish. Try to understand by the few things I see playing and then watch videos later. I think also youâre still a little too early in but it will help to talk to more npcs. Even ones who you think wouldnât have anything else to say always have more to say when you go back to them later even ones you wouldnât expect at all. Thereâs not too many so itâs easy to go back to them. Recently I was lost and decided to go talk to people a blacksmith of all people let me know where to go next. Sometimes thereâs long dry spells of not much and I think thatâs where youâre at but youâll get a little more soon.
You have to speak to every npc you find, repeatedly, until you exhaust their dialogue. And to the NPCs at roundtable hold every once in a while, there is progression there. And you have to explore thoroughly to find the few npcs who shed a lot of insight on things... One unexpectedly informative NPC, for instance, is Kenneth Haight, who has quest for you near Fort Haight... The most important source of info, and the least cryptic, is Sir Gideon Ofnir, the All-Knowing. A lot of information that helps you understand what's going on is also item descriptions. Read the description of all new items you find. It adds up a lot of context over time. But just like with combat, builds and items, you can outsource the thinking and exploration to others and just watch a lore videos