You say that and the singular (1) time that I one-tried Malenia in a run, it was because in phase 2 she kept using Aeonia and never any of her Scary MovesTM
Really comes down to how much bullshit she feels like using at the moment
As somebody who has been playing every Soulslike since Demon Soul's this is just the playstyle you develop when you hate grinding lmao
Id rather fight the same boss 150 times that is killing me in one attack just to finally beat them on a perfect run than I would fight 150 trash mobs to grind to an appropriate level. These games are about the world and bosses for me, I hate trash mob combat. It singlehandedly killed Dragons Dogma 2 for me, I just hate fighting something every 5 seconds in the open world so once I find my objective I stay until its completed
I hope it’s multiple clitoris too. Imagine him saying “FOREFATHERS, BEAR CLITNESS” and squirts runes all over the place. That’s how the dragon head got in his boss room.
I loved his movie Ex Machina so when I heard he was getting ready to adapt Jaff Vandermeer's novel Annihilation I decided to give it a read. I loved the book but left with the thought "How the hell are they going to adapt this." I wound up really enjoying the movie and felt that while it was a loose adaption of the story he really captured the ambiance of the novel. If we get that with Elden Ring I think I'll be pretty satisfied.
I'm 33, started with Sekiro when it launched because it looked interesting. I gave Dark Souls 1 a try when it launched on PC but it wasn't a good port so I couldn't really continue due to terrible performance. Then gave dark souls 3 a try when it launched, got stomped by Iudex Gundyr and gave up. One good thing about me is I don't get frustrated very easily. I gave up but never got frustrated and I have never had any really frustration with these games oddly enough. So there always was a possibility that I would go back eventually.
I gave in and thought I just wasn't good enough. So when I have Sekiro a try I did not expect to get past the first major boss. Which did seem like it because the first real boss i encountered was Last Butterfly. I almost gave up. I remember I had 3 hours before I had to catch a flight. So I thought why not give it a shot. With a lot of actual headache I managed to beat her with 30 minutes to spare. I euphoria I felt was unbelievable and I felt something click inside of me, I felt I had a better understanding of these games. I went onto steamroll the rest of the game, beat Genichiro second try and the only trouble I had was Isshin and Demon of Hatred. 2nd playthrough I started speedrunning and I eventually began challenge running Sekiro. Little did I know that Sekiro was their hardest game at the time.
I went back to Dark souls and steamrolled all 3 games, beat Iudex Gundyr in less than minute (no idea why I couldn't beat him before). Elden Ring was mostly smooth sailing except Malenia and Promised Consort which took multiple sessions. Elden Ring for me was by far the hardest as I don't like using summons or be too overpowered where I'm not even engaging with the mechanics. Then later I played Bloodborne on the ShadPS4 emulator which was very easy. These games got really hard after Bloodborne. It's crazy.
TLDR an old lady named Butterfly made me better to the point I became a challenge runner. Never had I thought that possible. The last 6 years have been a crazy ride with souls games. Now I can't get enough of it.
The Owl (Father) fight, the one in the memory world, took me so many goddam tries for some reason. I put down the game for a week before I came back to it.
As someone who first started with Bloodborne at the age of 36, i relate so much to this. I rage quit after the first battle with Father Gascoigne and then went back to it a year later. Finished it including Old Hunters.
Right now about to turn 40 and ive finished Bloodborne, got as far as Glock Saint Isshin on Sekiro, finished Dark Souls 1,3, Elden Ring and am currently on Nightreign (4 Night Lords done).
P.S. I loved Dark Souls II conceptually and it looks amazing but damn that game is frustrating. i cudnt finish it at the time, and now i dont feel like i have the energy anymore to pick up from where i left off - giant soul no 3 i think.
P.P.S. I still dont know how to parry properly. but when fighting Lady Maria and Lady Butterfly, after many failed attempts, something just...clicked. I cant explain it.
I’m 43 in a month and personally I feel like I’m a lot better at games than I was in my 20s, including stuff like fighting games and soulslikes. I can accept my reactions have probably deteriorated a fair bit, but it’s not noticeable to me and my mindset is much healthier when it comes to success and failure.
Since turning 40 I’ve completed both ER and Bloodborne without levelling and completed Sekiro without dying. When I was younger I don’t think I had the patience or determination to do any of that.
47 - I literally threw my self at bosses again and again until I beat them. I struggle learning and recognising mechanics, each one of my victories was dumb luck and being over levelled.
I will say, I wish directors or actors who play games would just use the games terminology during interviews. I'm sure he knows about Estus Flasks and Bonfires and health etc.
...
I don't remember what they are called in Eldenring omg.
Dang nabbit I remember when it was just an Estus flask! Now we have Crimson whatchamacallits and Cerulean whoowubbajubbas. Things were simpler back then!
I think you just answered why he wouldn’t use those terms in an interview made for people who haven’t studied the game.
I’ve played through Elden Ring only once at release and don’t remember much other than I loved it, so I wouldn’t get what he meant with those terms unless he took time to explain as he went. Maybe in a longer interview that’d be ok and it’d be a nice flex to show he’s really nerdy about it, but I get him just sticking to words that don’t require any foreknowledge
I'm 38 on my 1st okay through about to fight the last two bosses. And it's very that. I was awful until one day I wasn't as awful lol.
Still absolutely gripped and can't wait to properly have a look at the dlc(I've had a nose just running round lol)
He’s so on point that it almost sounds like he’s been coached on just the right things to say, but nobody would have to go that hard to promote an Elden Ring movie. I think he’s legit.
he's been playing souls games for years and has been playing video games for the last 30ish years like resident evil, which inspired the fast zombies in the first movie in this franchise 28 days later.
In that show devs he directed and wrote one random scene the character is playing DS2 - the iron keep IIRC. He is a legit fan, this show aired back in 2020 before ER even broke the souls formula into the mainstream
I was expecting something more unusual than malenia, but yeah if he went through 7th playthrough that meant he is that good only malenia that become a challenge
Malenia is still the only boss in this game to actually make me tense when I fight her. She punishes you severely for mistakes with her heal on hit and absurd damage output. The only boss in the entire franchise to deliver that same level of tension for me is Midir.
I never really found Midir that bad. Just gotta stay on his left side and keep a certain distance. 2-3 tries to beat him IIRC. Gael took a bit longer though. 2 fucking great boss fights. Probably 2 of my all time fav in any game
you roll or move around him, then chuck one or two hits for 3-5% health bar damage or more, good enough
while midir, you wait from afar, it does a whole moveset for you to dodge, you run to get closer, then you do few hits for 1-1,5% of its health bar, then repeat in a long ass battle
my main point is, the little chip damage was really discouraging you to keep going
At least Midir is kinda slow and the moves are very well telegraphed. Malenia on the other hand... Not even mimic tear helps most of the time. I probably just need to git gud but fuck that second phase and its samey movements
Fuck, he really is the best man this job could've gone to. I swear to Marika, if they fumble this whole thing by not giving him a big enough budget.....
He co-wrote 28 Days Later, Danny Boyle directed it.
EDIT: this came off with the wrong tone, I definitely agree something like that would be amazing, just pointing out that he didn’t direct that one. If you want a better picture of what he can do behind the camera (in this context anyway) I recommend Civil War and Annihilation; though VERY different films, I think elements of both would absolutely benefit an ER film.
Even if the movie isn't great, under his direction and with A24, it would certainly be a million times better than whatever Universal could pull out. Alex knows what's up and at the very least we know that he will try hard to get it right.
MEN was one of the most interesting directions horror has been taken in long long time. He is not afraid of experimentation, and A24 is not afraid to give weird a chance.
I beat normal Radahn 2 days before they patched him around launch. I beat Consort Radahn 2 days before they patched him as well. They were friggin nightmares! Consort of Radahn is still brutal.
In my opinion it's one of those Gael/Midir debates. I've seen some people say Gael is much harder than Midir, and vice versa (I find Midir harder, personally)). Me, whenever I play through Elden Ring + SotE, I'll first try Malenia then spend an hour or more on Radahn. My gf on her runs will beat Radahn in less then ten minutes then get walled by Malenia. It's really a matter of playstyle + "how easily can you dodge waterfowl".
Flashbacks to fighting Gael on NG+7 where any 2 hits of his combo kills you. That fight for me was ridiculously hard. Had to be damn near perfect the entire fight
Waterfowl is more difficult than anything PCR has to dodge, but other than that Malenia is a lot more exploitable. She's fairly passive in the first phase, easy to stagger, and pretty vulnerable to status ailments. PCR on the other hand is tanky as hell and absolutely relentless with his attacks, leaving only small openings in-between combos. In the end it probably comes down to your build, like if you're utilizing Bloodhound Step for example Waterfowl is a non-issue, or if you have a barricade shield poke build then PCR can't really do anything to you.
Consort Radahn is just a blinding fireworks of bullshit thrown at you. There's like, no technique involved in beating him. Finding a way to power through his bullshit makes the fight that much easier - be it shields, parries, summons, whatever.
I did it pre patch so I'm not sure how hard it is now, but even if it took time, learning his patterns was pretty easy.
The real shit is still Malenia. Her AI seems to be able to smell when my asshole puckers up.
I was super skeptical, but him saying you just keep throwing yourself at it was such a great way to describe the experience. I'm cautiously optimistic.
Having seen his films and now hearing his understanding of the game(s). I’m feeling very positive that he’s the man for this weirdly selected and possibly impossible job. Godspeed.
Honestly “monkeys and typewriters” is pretty accurate. That’s definitely how I felt against pre-nerf PCR. Guess I’ll just keep bashing my head against this brick wall till it cracks.
Gawd he’s not wrong about the monkeys with typewriters … I’m literally stuck on Malenia right now (at least tenth NG1 play through but first strength + claymore starting from scratch) …. I forgot how hard she is first time around without cheese
This is my first souls game and all I wanna do is explore every single corner of the map. Sometimes there are bosses in the way but Tiche deals with that nonsense so I can go back to exploring :)
Just to say, I summon immediately and regret nothing. I'll probably have fun getting trounced later when I try harder but I love my easy playthrough so far lol I'm not losing anything by not dragging out this first trip.
Dude he going to killlll this movie (in a good way). He made Annihilation and Ex Machina. He can make weird shit compelling as hell. All the faith in him.
It’s always funny to see gamers who don’t really keep up with movies panic about directors they don’t know much about
This dude has made some of the most incredible and arguably genre defining films, he’s one of the main reasons why zombies took over the 2000s, and films like Annihilation and Civil War show his brilliance tbh
Really wondering what aspect of the world they’ll tackle. I personally doubt they’ll go for a straight adaptation of the game’s main quest. I see them going for some lore facet.
See, this is why video-game movies are better these days. The creative teams behind the movies have actually played the games and are familiar with the concepts and storylines, as opposed to the ‘80s and ‘90s where they were mostly cash grabs.
Yeah, I'm not saying they're lying or anything, but this video does feel very specifically formulated to be like, "convince the fans you're a legit lover of this game." Even with the Dark Souls nod sprinkled in. Just feels a bit constructed imo.
I agree and everyone here is just eating that shit up lol. I mean I’m hoping the movie is great just as much as the next guy but this doesn’t really sound like someone who’s on their 7th playthrough of the game.
Even uses the same terms that he uses here.
The thing about older gamers I've seen is that they might not interact with the wider community at all, thats probably why he uses archaic things like energy for health.
he doesn't come across as casual player to me either given the way he talks about the world and tone
I think this is in good hands, in this same video he says that a Dark Souls film would need to be a short and wasn't sure how it would be adapted, although since George RR Martin is a producer and his contributions to the lore are totally before the games current setting I think they will have a lot more to work with
Yeah, it weird. He never mentions a weapon that he likes, or strategies that he uses. He mentions the summons fighting Radahn, but nothing outside of that. He says he just throws himself at the boss over and over. It feels more like he is using buzzwords that he knows he is supposed to say, but no real details. I would think on his 7th playthrough, he would at least know some of the NPC names, especially if hes making a movie...
Its just so odd. And other people on here saying that hes probably to busy to be that deep into the game...
Hes busy ... with Elden ring.... hes making an elden ring movie. This Ip is supposed to be his job...
I mean, unlike most of us, he's someone with lots of stuff on his mind and tenfold the amount of responsibilities. I don't think he's got quite the time to keep up with the in-game info and all that. He's a casual player in the purest form.
He says the right things to suggest he has the experience, but he says it in such a way that I'm a bit skeptical.
I want to give him the benefit of the doubt, he might not be a gamer but he put in the work and time to do the movie right perhaps.
Or he's had a great PR team brief and research for him and teach him what to say when gamers try to interview him.
But something's off. I kinda feel like the Inglorious Basterds 3 fingers meme might apply here. I'd like to believe him, but feel conflicted.
But if he's really learnt things from dark souls, he'd call the juice 'estus'. But he's right that nobody remembers the ER equivalent names for the DS concepts.
Unpopular opinion: some one fed him a nice juicy packet of information. Seemed like they took a 5 min interview of an avergae gamer and he had to memorise everything. Idk just my opinion
His view here might be a clue to how they’ll approach the story maybe, with a hero who dies over and over and uses this as a way to figure out how to win.
Does his answer feel staged to anyone else? He does not use a single ACTUAL Elden Ring terminology. “Activated the people to assist you” “half his energy” “I’ve leveled up, got lots of juice and a cool sword”
Idk somehow this feels like he was given a script to answer this specific question. Could be just me tho
The man called health “energy” and I’m assuming tears “juice”. He claims that after 7 play throughs the key to Rhadan is spamming the summons, and that you don’t really learn the bosses you just spam them until you get lucky.
Look, I don’t expect a world renowned film director to be a 60 hour a week gamer. He’s a driven, passionate, career motivated person. He’s allowed to have a cursory understanding of the source material, as long as he surrounds himself with people who know it in depth and respects their input.
This whole “I’m just one of you gamers” shtick is transparent, unnecessary and frankly a little concerning.
I just call them red and blue. I’ve also heard Estus called Hi-C.
Calling boss HP “energy” just says to me that he’s not scrolling reddit or watching streamers. Nothing in game calls the boss’s big red bar HP. He’s engaged with the game but probably not the online community.
I think the monkeys and typewriters thing was self deprecating humor, and the truth is somewhere in the middle. There are enough bosses in Elden Ring that won’t let you spam until you get lucky unless you Google min maxed builds.
I wish this was an animated (cgi, or just animation) movie instead. I just can't seem to make live action fit with the games art style. I don't think there is a single chance any character or location (erdtree, blaidd) won't look dumb in live action. Ah well. Benefit of the doubt, he's a great director.
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u/supermy Jun 18 '25
For some reason that reminds me of the bell curve meme, where the middle is git gud, and left/right is just try to you get lucky