ELDEN RING (PART 13)

The more this Tarnished fights in Colosseums across Lands Between, the more his armour set and skills evolve. In the quest for more "poise" (to withstand heavy attacks), he now sports the Veteran chest piece, which he acquired after defeating Commander Niall at Castle Sol Rooftop, as well as the Veteran gauntlets. He, however, wears the Fingerprint greaves because of his affiliation with Knight Vyke, and the Nomadic Merchant's Chapeau... maybe to pay tribute to those (of the Great Caravan) who were persecuted and then ultimately banished by the Golden Order and ended in the Cathedral of Forsaken. Together they give him 85 poise (which is pretty decent).

The Tarnished continues to wield the Vyke's War Spear, focusing on its Faith rather than Dexterity scaling because he is more skilled in frenzy flame spells and the Frenzyflame Thrust than melee attacks. But other than inflicting Madness on himself and others, he also casts Catch Flame (oh yes, remanence of his distant Fire Monk past) and Honed Bolt, a nod to Vyke's affiliation with lightning spells. 

But most recently, he decided to also dabble into (the blasphemous) "thorn sorceries"; wielding the Staff of the Guilty to cast Briars of Sin -- a Blood spell. 

He has yet "to turn" for fear of retribution from Melina. But, one day, this Tarnished will have to decide whether to sacrifice her or himself -- and be embraced (quite literally) by the Three Fingers -- to become Lord of Frenzy. For now though, he is waiting to learn more about Miquella (upcoming DLC!) ... how will that affect his ultimate journey to become the next Elden Lord? It is also worth noting that it is with the Miquella's Needle that he can cleanse and free himself from being totally consumed by Madness and, perhaps, redeem him from Melina's wraith ...

To be continued ...   

ELDEN RING (PART 12)

 ... and after this Tarnished battled many foes in the Lands Between -- both the brave and the idiotic -- many have come to realise his Prophecy, if not true calling, lies not with Fire but Madness. And that Chaos was his vision. While he still wields the fire-affiliated Blasphemous Blade when travelling, probably as an act of defiance, when he reveals his true identity -- and armour set -- he is not unlike another (great) Tarnished before him: Vyke, Knight of the Roundtable. 

According to the Elden Ring lore, there are two versions of Vyke; there is the one who uses Ancient Dragon Cult lightning incantations -- he could be found in the Evergaol on the Mountaintops of the Giants -- and there is one who casts Frenzy Flame incantations -- and he is the invader outside of the Church of Inhibition near the Frenzy Village.

Legend has it that: "No other Tarnished was closer to the throne of the Elden Lord than Vyke. But without announcement, Vyke travelled far below the [Leyndell Royal] capital, and was scorched by the flame of frenzy. Did he make his choice for his maiden, or did some other force lure him with suggestion?"

Contemporary scholars (on Reddit), however, have made these notes:

a) Vyke is Lansseax beloved/lover. She's the Priestess of Dragon Cult, also female Ancient Dragon that took form of a human to communicate with the Cult followers. Only those, who are loved by dragons, can clad themselves in lightning, so says the description of Dragonbolt Blessing and Vyke's dragonbolt spell specifies that Lansseax loved him the most of all Cult members.

b) Dragon Cult is and was in Leyndell ever since the end of Golden Order vs Dragons war. Which was ended by Godwyn who defeated Granssax (likely) and Fortissax, the Mightiest Boulderstone (confirmed) who also is Lannseax sibling. Then he befriended Forti, and started a Cult, because both humans and dragons had the same "Gold" in them.

c) Vyke was tricked, by Shabiri (likely) to use himself as Kindling for the Forge, because being the noble hero, he wanted to protect his human maiden, who otherwise had to be burned in the Forge. And since Shabiri is "chaos incarnate" and Three fingers = Chaos, we can see where did Vyke go. To Three Fingers, as the only way to be a Kindling and survive is to burn yourself in the forge, and only grasped by the Frenzyflame seemed to be able to do this. (eg our Tarnished)

So is our Tarnished to follow the same fate as Vyke as he, too, refuses to sacrifice Melina to start anew?

ELDEN RING (PART 11)

It has transpired that there are two types of incantation casters in the Lands Between: those whose spells are laced with curses that inflict deadly status, which can cause instant death; and those who wield (often blasphemous) magics like weapons. 

This Tarnished, the Mad Prophet, belongs to the latter. Those who have the misfortunate to cross his path (and lived to tell their tale) have seen him cast fire and frenzy spells like missiles. His build is heavy on FAITH, with reasonably high MIND, meaning his incantations are strong on damages. Boosted by the Edtree sacred seal, his castings can be devastating. His frenzy spells, however, are less likely to "proc" the madness status. 

Those from the other school, who are extremely well versed in ARCANE and wield the Dragon Communion sacred seal are equally (if not more) deadly. As each spell can almost guarantee madness to be inflicted onto the opponent who, for a brief moment, will be completely paralysed, leaving the caster enough time to execute their final blow.

But as we have previously determined, this particular Tarnished is not likely to have any affiliation with the dragon cult. Instead, it is fire -- and the hellish burning flames -- that have seen many of his enemies fallen below his feet. 

    

    

ELDEN RING (PART 10)

 ... so who is this Tarnished roaming in the Lands Between?

Scraps of information begin to emerge. He is often spotted at the Church of Elleh and appears to have an affinity with the nomad merchant there, Kale, who (unlike most of his peers) actually has a name. 

This Tarnished is recently sighted ... not in his usual Fire Monk outfit but his basic Prophet attire: 

-- the blindfold... "if the path leading to the future is clear, then just close your eyes, and walk"; 

-- the robe and trousers ... interesting this whole set can be bought off the hermit merchant at his shack in Leyndell Royal Capital, suggesting, perhaps, this is the area where these prophets were once based, before they were persecuted and forced into exile. The shackles around the neck "warn passerbys not to lend an ear to their [ominous] sermons".

However, what catches the eye (well, for those who dare stare at this figure of misfortune) is the weapon he wields: a metal whip that is clearly the Hoslow's Petal Whip. How this family loom from the illustrious House of Hoslow -- their tale is told in blood -- comes to be in his possession is a bit of a mystery, though it could be because The Tarnished had met one of -- if not both -- the Hoslow brothers, Juno and Diallos, while "serving" as a Rescusant (Tarnished assassin) at the Volcano Manor. 

In fact, the above scenario is extremely likely given this Tarnished has been seen also wielding the notorious Blasphemous Blade, a super powerful weapon that can only been obtained after defeating Rykard --- a demi-god; the son of Queen Rennala and Radagon and brother to Ranni and and Radahn (and later also step brother to Godwyn the Golden, Margott the Omen King and Mohg) --- at the Volcano Manor.

Also notable is that this Tarnished is skilled with Bloodhound Steps, which means he can "blink" (or teleport) between short distances, making him very hard to catch.  

But it'd be his incantations that can shed light on his identity and, perhaps, his backstory. He is skilled in both offensive and buffing spells.

Offensive

The class came with Catch Flame, which is described as "an anathema to the Erdtree... but prophets glimpse it within the faith all the same". 

Interestingly, he has also been seen casting OTHER types of fire-type incantations that could only be learnt from the Fire Monks, especially those for buffing (see below) and by slaughtering the Fire Giants, for the powerful Flame. Fall Upon Them incantation. So it is extremely probable that this Tarnished had infiltrated into the Fire Monks tribe with the sole intention to enhance his pyromancy prowess. 

What seems less likely is his devotion to any Dragon-related factions. The fact he can cast the superior Ekzykes' Decay incantation merely suggests the Tarnished is strong enough to kill the huge beast in Caelid before devouring its heart as an act of communion.  

More intriguingly, perhaps, is his ability to cast two very, very strong incantations that originated "from the maddening Three Fingers": Frenzied Burst and Unendurable Frenzy. His association with the Three Fingers, the Outer God of chaos, is yet emerge and to be played out. Perhaps this is the very fate that he foresaw long, long time ago and is simply on his path of a self fulfilling prophecy.    

Defensive  

The prophet class traditionally takes on the cleric role and this is no exception in Elden Ring. So one of the starting incantations is Heal -- "of the Two Fingers' faithful". His ability to cast this -- and the more potent Lord's Aid -- suggests this particular Tarnished was originally loyal to the Two Fingers before he turned to the Three Fingers... but why? That we don't know ... yet.

Golden Vow and Blessing of the Erdtree are two extremely good buffing spells and they seem to be "primordial" in nature. i.e. something that existed right at the beginning, like the Erdtree, and like the Aspect of the Crucible incantations. I imagine these are basic spells that a prophet in training would learn because .. well, clerics are known for their healing powers. (The primordial spells should not be confused with the Golden Order ones, despite their similarities in colours...) 

And, finally, the two buffing/debuffing incantations from the Fire Monks: Flame, Grant Strength and Flame, Cleanse Me. When dungeon crawling, with both Flame, Cleanse Me and Lord's Aid you have answers to status-build-ups including: poison, scarlet rot, blood loss and sleep. Surprisingly useful! 

A Tarnished who was once of the Two Fingers faith but renegaded to learn (heretic) incantations from the Three Fingers; one who infiltrated into the Volcano Manor as well as the Fire Monk factions to become a highly skilled caster; one who must now decide whether to sacrifice his own guiding light, Melina, or himself to rid of the Status Quo, or a future ruled by the Golden Order or Ranni and to embrace Chaos... but which one is it to be?

..to be continued...

Visual Novels

Was debating which of these two games I should install on my PSP: Steins;Gate or Zero Escape. Both of these visual novels I really enjoyed and only yesterday I finally unlocked all the endings in Steins;Gate. But I finally went with Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward and Zero Dilemma because the save mechanism allows players to jump in and out of the story to revisit/reply different points/ fragments of it; a bit like how consciousness can time travel in these stories! So its "replayability value" is a lot higher. 

With Steins;Gate, though, it is quite hard to do that given it's save system doesn't facilitate that. Also, I can watch the excellent anime on YouTube! Zero Escape is, actually, a bit like Tactics Ogre in that you can jump around after having completed your initial playthrough. So now I have Zero Escape on my PSP and ... the Danganronpa trilogy on the PS Vita. It turns out I have lost the save for Trigger Happy Havoc so one day I will play that again. Excellent game and, arguably the best of the trilogy. 

ELDEN RING (PART 9)

Three big bosses -- Malenia, Fire Giant, Astel -- and many runes later, I'm now at level 150, which is where I wanna stop and have pretty much reached the point of no return in the game. However, the question is: WHO should commit the cardinal sin and burn the Erdtree?? There are two choices: either ask Melina (who's been the Tarnish's guide since the beginning of the game) to do the deed or do it myself ...

To make that decision I'd like to create my own (original) narrative for my game, yet trying to stick to the lore of Elden Ring as well. So, first of all, WHO my character should be? 

Our Tarnished began his journey as a Prophet. According to the game, this class' description is:

"A seer ostracised for inauspicious prophecies. Well versed in healing incantations..."

I guess I choice this class because I didn't want to be a mage outright (which sounds a bit boring) but at the same time can still yield some magic. So being a healer/cleric sounds like something that I'd choose in other RPG games (also, I don't think I can handle melee since I don't even know how to parry LOL). And wielding a bow is not really my thing either. 

So, despite its weird looks -- the blindfold and the shackles -- I went with the Prophet who, actually, can see the (terrible) future that will befall on the Lands Between. At this point, it is worth delving into the lore of 1) what exactly is this future as seen via Brother Corhyn and Goldmask quest in the game and 2) the fate of Hyetta who is also blindfolded (but probably for a whole different reason).  

The answers may not be straightforward as, for one, there are many theories behind who Goldmask is. The scholar is believed to be a proponent of the Golden Order, created by the first Elden Lord. But having trudge through countless reddit threads lol it appears Goldmask, and eventually Brother Corhyn, realised the Golden Order is just as perfect as they'd thought -- in fact, it is another form of dictatorship -- which left both of them disillusioned ... perhaps this is what the Prophet class foresees? 

The other side of the same coin (as it were) is that if the Golden Order is not the answer for the Lands Between (and that is why I decided to change allegiance half way through the game so our Tarnished is not a follower of the Golden Order... I scaled back his INT back to 7 and significantly boosted his FTH stats) then what is the future for this world in the prophecy?

Enter the Frenzied Flame God, which turns everyone crazy. Now, this is one scary prophecy that our Tarnished can see, channelled via Hyetta. 

Like Vyke, a fellow Tarnished who wanted to save his maiden by burning the Erdtree himself, our Tarnished also doesn't want to sacrifice his "guide" Melina (but WHO is Melina?) And also like Vyke, the Prophet class wield a spear. And him realising the horror and injustice done to the entire Nomad race, our Tarnished may also want to seek revenge for them and opt for a World of Madness. 

But, of course, our Tarnished's journey was never gonnabe plain sailing. As he is always well versed in Fire and Dragon incantations, which means there is something else that might be in the works, which makes him a puzzle in itself. Is he in any way connected to the Fire Monks (since he wears their armour set and learnt their incantations) or the Fire Giants (he also uses their incantations), and how is he connected with the Dragon Cult?     

One thing for sure though, he is NOT a believer of Ranni/ Moon Magic. Despite acquiring the Sword of  Night and Flame quite earlier on in the game, a legendary weapon that could go with both the Ranni and Age of Stars or Golden Order lores, our Tarnished abandoned that after acquiring the Blasphemous Blade from defeating Rykard (which also means he left the Volcano Manor sect after, well, betraying them ... for some very good armour sets!)

So what are these connections? To be continued ... 

ELDEN RING (Part 8)

This game is kinda addictive and before I knew it, I have already hit the soft cap for levelling, at 125.

Unlocked all the seven spell/incantation slots!

The question now is what kinda thematic build should I go for? I'm a tad tired of the Fire Monk look (even though the armour set is solid) so have been contemplating the Golden Order build (for the Golden Order ending, perhaps)... But there are very few (if any) armour sets that go with this build. The Black Knife (ninja) set looks very good but also very squishy -- even though I've found the Unseen spell that works with this build. And with the Frenzied Burst spell I can snipe from afar. 

Pausing on that thought, maybe I should look for the incantation boosting Flock's Canvas Talisman first ...