Super long post incoming…!
Next week, going internet dark really as soon as I feel it’s necessary. I’ve already taken Friday off of work, so no worries there. My plan is to stay up all night Wednesday night going into Thursday. And then, passing out after work and a shower. Then waking up anywhere from 12am+. I am going to be playing Elden Ring 24/7 for 3 days straight until work the following Monday.
My main goal is that I want to really immerse myself into the entire world. The atmosphere, the storyline, my own character (maybe even make up my own lore for my character like a true tryhard nerd) and I especially want to explore every single nook & cranny that exists in Elden Ring. All that may sound cringe, but I honestly couldn’t give less of a fuck what anyone thinks. I’ve been waiting for the game for what feels like an eternity. So you bet your ass I’m going to do whatever I can to maximize my own experience, especially on the most crucial playthrough, aka the first one.
Now, this doesn’t mean that I’m not going to miss a lot of things on my first playthrough. This is just about inevitable. Since I’m going in completely blind (didn’t even play the network test or watch anyone play it outside of some PvP stuff), and won’t even be on the internet let alone social media or Google. I will have no way in knowing if I’m missing hidden walls of doors, if I’m missing hidden items that are in secret locations, if I’m not properly doing an NPC questline, if I’m doing a covenant correctly or not (if they’re even in the game, I know so little that I don’t even know that).
But of course, not knowing 99.9% of all of these things is exactly what makes the first playthrough not only obviously super fun, but an experience that simply can’t be recreated. Which is why I’m taking my sweet ass time and will be in absolutely no rush whatsoever.
All the PvP stuff, like making specific PvP builds, min/maxing, finding out the consensus level cap, testing which weapon combos are viable or not, if magic/spell and/or pyro or miracles are useful in PvP, etc etc, won’t really be a main priority on the first playthrough. I mean I of course will take note of certain weapons or strats that seem like they’ll be good in PvP, but it’ll essentially just be mental notes and not the main focus.
I feel super fortunate, actually, that I didn’t get into the closed network test. I’m glad how little I know about the game. Like I’ve said what feels like 10 times now, the less I know about a game, especially an action RPG game likes Soulsborne games, the more enjoyable that first, fresh, naive and innocent (to an extent), absolutely PURE first playthrough is something I will probably always look forward to. And not only is Elden Ring no exception, that feeling and ideology seems to be amplified that an insane level with Elden Ring.
As I have also mentioned many times, I don’t think I’ve ever been this hyped or excited about a video game release possibly ever. The closest I can think of would have to be Halo 3.
Me & my friends were MASSIVE Halo 2 fans (or nerds depending on your perspective). We were all very good, essentially we were an unofficial pro team that just “pub stomped”. We got up to the moon rankings before the rankings were reset due to all the cheaters. For those that know how hard it was to get to that point legitimately, that should give you an indication of our skill level but also our dedication. Mind you, this was back when we were all teenagers. So we had FAR MORE time on our hands than we do now. But anyway, we were insanely hyped for Halo 3 (as were so many other people). For the midnight release, all of is got to GameStop super early the day prior, at like 9am. We were, of course, the 1st people there. We brought chairs, a cooler, snacks, music, etc. A few people started to show up at around noon or so, but not too many. But eventually there were a good group we had going and we all were talking about Halo, our experiences, how excited we were for Halo 3, etc etc. By the time it got to be like 9pm (3hrs before release), the line wrapped around the building. I think by the time midnight hit, the GS employee said there was a minimum of 200 people and nowhere near that many copies. Not sure how they do it now, but back then, if you didn’t pre-order the game, you weren’t even allowed to be there at midnight. So I assume a bunch of people just tagged along in hopes that there would be extra or something.
Anyway, rambling about irrelevant shit, lol. My point is that I am even more hyped about Elden Ring than I was Halo 3, which is insane. And I know the fact that this game had been so hyped up that
It probably won’t meet the ultra high expectations people will inevitably have. But it there was anyone or anything you could put your faith into, especially in regards to making quality games, FromSoft+Miyazaki Souls-like games have never EVER been even remotely a disappointment.
Super long story short. My body is far more than ready then it’ll ever be! LET’S FKN GOO!
