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A third-person, role-playing adventure with nearly limitless death and despair awaits players with the courage to restore the world. Hand Ring (Bandai Namco Entertainment and FromSoftware, rating: Adult, $59.99, reviewed on PlayStation 4).
How’s that for a fun weekend? As part of the evolution of the legendary and painfully difficult Dark Souls series, a vast world awaits players where they can embrace the myths of the Lands Between through lore developed by “Game of Thrones” patriarch George RR Martin.
Specifically, the magic-filled Elden Ring was smashed into seven Great Runes by Queen Marika. Each of the demigod offspring was given a piece, but they fought each other and devastated the lands to gather all the Great Runes and forge the Elden Ring again.
Events known as the shattered war completely shattered the In-between Countries. It’s up to the player to kill all seven Fragmented demigods, reassemble the Elden Ring and become Elden Lord.
As with all role-playing games, the epic journey begins as a player who is recalled after being branded as a blackened exile, chooses one of eight warrior types, and then customizes his final look.
Classes available, from a vile wretched (leave it to the world simply by wearing G-strings); an astrologer (magic practitioner); samurai (heavy duty warrior); and the vanguard (a flexible mid-range fighter).
Sufficient depth for customization allows a player to closely reconstruct their face and body if they take time, from pores, under-eye bags color, right and left iris size, color and detailed musculature.
Expect the indecisive to take hours to fine-tune a class of people. I will remind you, though, that most of these facial features are usually covered by some kind of protective cap.
I chose the Vagabond class, which is a versatile and balanced warrior that comes with a silver armored body and face customization covered with a shield, longsword, Halberd and a helmet.
It’s worth noting that a Vanguard needs to equip Halberd early for a more functional and faster dodge roll to help when fighting.
Now progress as you collect, fight and freely craft to improve attributes and conquer a world deliberately overrun by powerful humanoids and combat-demanding creatures, while also interacting with characters seeking or willing to help.
To give it a taste of exploration, a player is first dropped into the lands of Limgrave to find areas like Stormveil Castle to defeat the Grafted Godrick (first story demigod); Mistwood forest (watch out for wild giant bears); Agheel Lake (yes, that’s a big fire-breathing dragon); To purchase craft set from Elleh Church merchant’s Fortress; and Morne Castle to defeat the ferocious humanoid Leonine Misbegotten.
Those who work hard and play for hours will gain many useful items through exploration and battles.
Specifically, get the Ghost Horse Whistle after talking to Melina. A player’s avatar can now summon the unicorn Torrent on demand to drive and double jump across terrains with a variety of abilities such as knocking down enemies with a dizzying circular attack, taking advantage of mega jumping from huge wind geysers.
Or defeat Mad Pumpkin Head (a large humanoid with a large pumpkin noggin) hiding in a dungeon and gain access to a room to meet Sorceress Sellen, who will offer magical items and teach a warrior a few Glintstone techniques.
For those who get the obsession, about 40 hours of gameplay for me and exploring, including these caves, mines, cellars, dungeons, a wide range of equipment awaits to be discovered.
Some fun things include the Twinsage Glintstone Crown head (a pair of metallic heads that just look cool and help prevent further damage); Raya Lucarian Robe (for more magic protection); Bloodhound Fang (Kill the Bloodhound boss); a curved great sword (causes massive blood loss); Meteorite Staff for powerful spells like throwing rocks (found in the Caelid Marshes); and a blue Carian Great Sword (magic strikes with a large, damned sword) shimmering with magic.
Familiar game mechanics offer areas called grace sites to save the game and fast travel; various upgradeable bottles to replenish and restore health and stamina; use of Runes to buy things; and the ability to collect a large number of items in a warrior’s inventory for crafting.
For example, gather root resin and a smoldering butterfly to create fire oil and use it to ignite a sword for battle, a very neat and useful trick.
A welcome and very important addition to the playing experience is the summoning of dead warriors and creatures to assist in battle. A player must find a variety of ashes to unlock and summon them by ringing a bell collected from the Witch Renna.
They can summon benevolent warriors such as a pack of wolves, two skeletal militias, a spirit jellyfish, a noble mage (throws pieces of glittering stone), and five wandering nobles to attack enemies.
Game director and designer Miyazaki, father of the Dark Souls series, has once again created amazing monsters and creatures.
Players will see gargoyles, giant bats, skeletons, a grafted sprout (a troll-like blob with various body parts and extra appendages inserted), human spiders, knights in golden armor, a large lobster, a black octopus, and large spinning jars (alias) they may encounter. Pot Boys) contains the guts of fallen warriors. Each encounter guarantees death for those who are not strong enough or knowledgeable in warfare.
Finally, the potentially welcome co-op mode is a rather confusing lesson in patience. A host player first visits the Martyr Statue statue. With the aid of various empowered severed fingers, he powers a summoning pool and creates a beacon to summon friends who enter his kingdom to see his mark, using a Small Golden Statue and a tool called the Furlcalling Finger Remedy.
In almost all cases there was no connection and my friends could not be found. Seems to be a common problem right now.
What worked collaboratively was interacting with bloodstains to watch how other players (as ghostly ghosts) died, and reading notes left by others that could aid in a warrior’s discovery.
The immensity and beauty of Elden Ring, after more than 50 hours of immersion, are only matched by its immense difficulty. It’s guaranteed to bring tantrums and bouts of depression, but it will easily be remembered as one of the best video games this year and potentially in media history.
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