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less-than-three-3 · 6 months ago

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(spoilers) On Miquella, Shadow of the Erdtree's ending and, well, everything

Having just finished my first playthrough, I wanted to write about my whole experience and review of the content, but there is just so much to unpack and, frankly, a whole spectrum of discourse about the story content of this DLC that I wanted to get all of my thoughts on the lore written down first. Plainly, I think people just have it wrong and those who are confused about the choices made just haven't been paying attention. Yes, there is a lot of big lore dropping in the DLC, but a lot of background characterization from main game is kind of being ignored even if it doesn't explicitly foreshadow the choices the characters made. Of course major spoilers for both parts of the game below, play and make your own opinions first before reading. Also this will be a lot so please bear with me.

I won't beat around the bush, the biggest sticking point to, like, pretty much everyone is "why the fuck is Radahn here?" Or, maybe more broadly, what was Miquella cooking, and how did things end up like this when we didn't have any clue about it in the main game?

And this is something you can't really answer in a vacuum, you need to zoom out and look at not just the framing of the whole DLC but of the entire game as whole - Fromsoft's DLC's are always about expanding on and deepening the characterization of the entire game as opposed to being a self-contained narrative, my favorite example of this being the DS2 dlc. So first, let's talk about Marika and Messmer.

Some people have pointed out amidst the noise that this DLC is not just about Miquella but about expanding on Marika and her motivations. This sounds obvious and like yeah it is, but the point is that these two stories are very intentionally woven together. And, without going to deep into the weeds, the big picture of what SotE says about Marika is more or less explaining her traumas that lead to her genocides and oppression. (shoutouts to _7albi on twitter, not sure if they're on tumblr, for a lot of marika and jar lore/deconvolution)

Of course we know about her hatred of Those Who Live In Death, not just a blasphemy to the rebirth cycle of the Erdtree but a cruel reminder of the murder of her Golden Child Godwyn. But now we learn that the hornsents, of the Crucible, tortured and laid waste to Marika's people, imprisoning the condemned in the DLC jars, leading to her hatred of the Misbegottens and Omens and to her son Messmer leading the crucade against the Hornsent. Additionally Messmer (her first son? or at least first child who was cursed by an Outer God?) was likely tainted by the Fell God, which led to her felling of the Fell God and genocide of the Fire Giants. (I think the current theory is that the war against the Fire Giants was also to protect the Erdtree, but I think having a deep personal hatred explains how far she went with it). Check out albi's twitter I linked above for a lot of really insightful posts about all of this!

Of course, this isn't to excuse her actions, and to be clear I don't even think she is a grey character, these are terrible things to have done. It's precisely for these reasons that we, the player, aim to either change or displace the current Golden Order of Marika in almost every ending, and precisely for these reasons Miquella was so intriguing in the first place, as one of the most powerful Empyreans and thus most likely successor to Marika. Deepening Marika's motivations in the DLC keeps her at the forefront of your mind as you engage with the drips of information we get about Miquella throughout the shadow realm. This is incredibly important because it can change how you view Miquella's attempted godhood. He is Miquella the Kind, who has put so much effort into essentially righting the wrongs he saw in the world. He views Marika's rule as injust and oppressive, and I think he recognizes that Marika's intense emotional trauma is the root cause of most of this, which is why he abandoned not just his flesh but his love, his fear, his doubt, and his heart. He seeks to become, essentially, fully unbiased and accepting of all, and compel everyone to do the same. But the major flaw behind this is that compulsion and forced peace without free will is a bland, sterile way to live. Additionally, there is St. Trina who Miquella has split off from, who claims that godhood would also be bad for Miquella, perpetuating the theme in the game of "power corrupts all". Essentially Marika and Miquella's rule would be two flavors of typical SMT Law/Order endings lol. And these parallels are important for the theme that Miyazaki loves of perpetuated cycles.

In other words, Marika's backstory isn't meant to be fully sympathized with per se, but also to showcase the reasonings and flaws in Miquella's judgement. But at the same time, I totally understand the reading of the text that Miquella could be completely right and Marika's backstory proves it - I think this is one of the biggest flaws of the DLC, that you can't get "The Miquella Ending/Mending Rune". I don't think you necessarily need to, like, parlay with Miquella about his plans like some people suggest, I think him being hostile to you makes sense because you are, at face value, Marika's champion and thus Radahn will flatten you at any chance he gets, but not having a ring or mending rune or something to be like "hold on he's got a point" after fighting them off I think is a missed opportunity.

Now I've already mentioned that he is Miquella the Kind, but I think it's also important to note very crucially that while he has a big heart and good intentions he is a major fuck up. This is explicitly clear in the text of the base game, and I think many people don't recognize this. He tried multiple times and failed to cure his sister's curse of rot. After the Night of the Black Knives he tried to call the eclipse to revive Godwyn and also failed to do so (this is also why his consort could not be Godwyn! I don't know why so many people are suggesting this it's literally impossible based on the timeline! and even if we go by the theory that Radahn was holding back the eclipse at that time and after his death Miq could call it, I think it's reasonable to believe that Miquella just gave up on Godwyn because nothing he does works, plus I don't necessarily think this timeline works either). And the Haligtree became a safe haven for the outcasts and oppressed of TLB, his original intent was to have it be another Erdtree and to ascend to godhood that way, and it didn't.

So in this state, after literally accomplishing almost nothing his entire life, it makes sense why his final push is to essentially full send, abandoning everything and using his compulsion powers at any cost to achieve something positive. So I don't think his actions at all ruin his characterization as Miquella the Kind, he's a well-intentioned character whose attempts to fix everything have been completely ruined at every possible step. I would hope that anyone that recognizes this understands how infuriating that must feel. St. Trina, who he has abandoned, begs you to kill him as he is too far gone, but to also grant him forgiveness.

But none of this answers "why make a vow with Radahn, and why did he agree?"

And to be honest, I really think the answer to the former is just that he's fucking strong, and more or less the best available option. I mean, he's held the stars together, he stalemated a literal goddess (and she probably would have died if not for Finlay!), and is essentially the poster child of power amongst the demigods. Having someone of that strength means your rule is untouchable. Remember, Godwyn is soul-dead and Miquella failed to recover him (he was definitely the first choice), Ranni is body-dead and fucking off somewhere else, Rykard is, uh, having a moment, Malenia would be a huge no-no, and Morgott (and Godrick and I guess Godefroy et al.) is a Golden Order loyalist. We'll put a pin in Mohg obviously, though I think we really don't know much about what he does until his involvement with Miquella? I think it's safe to assume that the Omen twins are more or less unknowns to the other demigods due to their confinement, though I don't know when in the timeline Mohg appeared on Miquella's radar.

But hey isn't Radahn also a simp for the Golden Order, Godfrey, and Radagon? He would never agree to be Miquella's consort, right?

Well, here's the thing. Radahn is very much a warrior's warrior, he lives by the blade and lives for the fight. The reason he loves the Golden Order and all of them is because they're awesome strong war heroes, he wanted to be just like them and more. He's essentially a military bro lol. He's not ideologically tied to the Golden Order, and to be honest I don't know how much he even really knows about or cares about the ideology; he's tied to the Golden Order because they're large and in charge.

From Radahn's Armor: "The golden lion is said to symbolize Godfrey, the Elden Lord, and his beast regent, Serosh. From his youngest years, Radahn was naturally captivated by the Lord of the Battlefield."

From Radahn's Helm: "Radahn inherited the furious, flaming red hair of his father Radagon, and is fond of its heroic implications. "I was born a champion's cub. Now I am the Lord of the Battlefield's lion.""

So if Miquella can prove that his rule can be even mightier, Radahn will agree to be his consort. And what military prowess does Miquella have? The Blade of Miquella, Malenia, and her Cleanrot Knights. Malenia's march on Caelid was part of the plan, part of the vow she and Miquella made with Radahn ("If we honour our part of the vow" = the twins). And thus they went to war.

I think people are misinterpreting "vow" to mean everyone is buddy buddy and on the same side. That's not the case. To cite every Souls fan's favorite external media, this is literally a direct parallel to Griffith and Guts: "You are mine". Guts is first inducted into the Band of the Hawk because Griffith bests him in combat, and leaves when he wins. This was their vow.

But what wasn't part of their plan was Radahn surviving. By finishing the conflict in a stalemate, the conditions for the vow weren't met. Only after we defeat Radahn does the plan move forwards. This is why Miquella essentially thanks us for killing his lord brother.

So why is Mohg involved? The vow was handled and conditions met, it's a done deal right? Well yeah, but Radahn's body is literally a rotted mess that made him go insane, and resurrection probably isn't fixing that.

Remember that in this game, there is a good amount of emphasis about the duality, separation, and linkage of body and soul, from of course Ranni/Godwyn and Marika/Radagon but also the twinned knights. It's also apparent, through Ranni, that the soul is the source of supernatural abilities, with Ranni being able to do her witch stuff even with a literal inanimate doll as a body.

So what I'm saying is that if they can stuff Radahn's soul into a healthy body, we can say welcome back Radahn. I don't think the strength of the body matters much, probably as long as it meets some threshold, because Radahn's insane gravity magic can bolster even the weakest of beings, like Leonard! So Miquella just needs like a warm demigod body to compel and essentially die for the cause. Process of elimination alone pretty much leaves Mohg as the prime candidate, but also keep in mind the Omen Twins' arcs, where they have essentially been shunned their whole lives and channel that trauma through different avenues. Morgott is the devout one, believing that he was truly born inferior and needs to work harder and devote and prove himself to the Golden Order to be accepted. Mohg, on the other hand, is lost, and though he eventually finds himself devoting himself to the Formless Mother, Miquella being his beacon of hope and relevancy as a consort gives him direction. And I'm sure he harbors resentment towards the Golden Order which helps. I guess Miquella didn't lie to him about that.

Maybe the timeline is a bit of a stretch but it would make sense that Miquella learns of the stalemate, that's when he gets fed up and just decides to abuse his compulsion to target the mentally weak Mohg, and while Miquella slumbers Mohg steals him away.

This definitely gets muddy when we consider the process by which we stuff Radahn into Mohg, or how we turn Mohg's body into Radahn's. I don't think Miquella has access to the Rune of Death... This is the most handwavey part of this story, and to be honest is my other biggest issue with it. I don't think he needed to look like Radahn if this is the case. Or if there is some process by which this happens, I don't think they've made it clear at all how. Leaving this kind of huge detail as speculation feels like a misstep. Maybe we're missing something, I mean it's only been a week, but to have no leads at all is questionable. Maybe it has something to do with Godwyn's presence in the DLC (that seemingly goes mostly untouched)?

Also, as an aside, I really don't think Mohg is "uncancelled". He was compelled but he still did all that freak shit with Miquella's cocoon. I think we still really don't know what the point of all of that was (though I can stand to be corrected), but much like real life, "he seduced me" isn't exactly an excuse. Apparently this is a hot take. If his compulsion doesn't work on, for example, Golden Order loyalists (which clearly it doesn't, otherwise Miquella's story would be a lot lot different) due to their convictions, that means it is possible to stave it off. But Mohg can't. He is tantalized by some inner desire that I wish not to unpack, and while maybe we can reduce some of the blame, he still has a good amount of it.

But anyways I guess that's my answer to "what the fuck just happened?" There's definitely holes in what we know and probably holes in my theory (though I have tried to steer away from speculation and more towards textual evidence where we have it), but this is what makes the most sense to me based on my reading of the text. And frankly, the things I see most often in the discourse I think a lot of people just missed in the details of the main game (which is fine, to be clear), so I hope if you're in that boat this got your cogs turning more and enabled you to look at these characters from a different lens. Or if you think I'm just spouting nonsense, that's cool too! For better or worse they leave a lot up to interpretation and heavy analysis, so if you have a different reading I'd love to hear it!

#elden ring #shadow of the erdtree

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less-than-three-3 · 1 year ago

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Lies of P might be the best souls game I've played

this is only half a joke tbh

There's so much talk about how yeah it might be one of the best soulslikes out there but it still can't reach the quality of the Fromsoft games and I'm just like... no, Neowiz has really got the baton and delivered a really great evolution of the linear Souls "genre".

There are definitely some rough spots (but so do the Souls games) but what they've presented and improved on is truly magnificent. It's not Bloodborne x Sekiro (PLEASE STOP SAYING THIS OML), but it is very much its own thing and does what it sets out to do very well, in a lot of aspects. Full ramblings below, some spoilers likely.

I want to preface everything I am going to say by reiterating that, though this delivers a lot of Souls elements excellently (and some not), this is very much its own game, and not only stands on its own two feet but runs a mile with them. I feel like a lot of folks play Soulslike games (even by Fromsoft themselves lol) and expect all their skills and knowledge to transfer over, or expect mechanics to work and present themselves just like in Souls games, and it's because those are the golden standard for many people. I get it, but it's still kind of meaningless - not because "the games can't compete/compare with them" but because they do different things and excel at providing different experiences; they may be "souls-like" in nature but there are so many different directions one could take with the genre.

And so I was elated to really get to know the mechanics of Lies of P (I'll refer to it as LoP). I won't lie, when I played the demo, I didn't really get it yet, so I definitely felt a little frustrated, but once you get the hang of it, the controls are so satisfying the whole way through (like the Souls games! wow!). I think maybe a lot of people forget that this learning curve is a huge part of what makes the Souls games tick, because they've put in so many hours into "getting good", and so when they have to go back up the curve, they feel frustrated again.

The main thing is, obviously, the parry system, which is pretty much the mechanic LoP really uses to separate itself from the From catalogue. Is it like Sekiro? Yeah sure yes both games use perfect parries to build stagger, but I contend that it is even still very distinct from Sekiro's parry system. In Sekiro, the game is the parry system, it's more or less how you actually kill most bosses, with Vitality only acting as a way to make progress to help you build up stagger.

In LoP, there's two big things that make it very different. The first is obvious as soon as you fight that first big dude with the parry tooltip - attack patterns are not nearly as rhythmic and fast paced as in Sekiro, mostly. Long windups and big tells make some aspects of getting used to parrying easy, but at the same time the timings can be very tricky and can demand a lot of attention. This alone really contributes to a very different game feel, even though they are both, nominally "perfect parry" systems.

Another thing is that the parry timing window is quite tight. Some would say it's too tight, but I honestly think a lot would be lost if the parrying were too easy. In Sekiro, the parry window is actually quite wide, but locks you out and heavily punishes you for fishing for parries, forcing you to be methodical and patient even if fights get hectic. In LoP, it's quite the opposite - there's a lot of time between attacks often, and it forces decision making and risk/reward between attempting to parry, blocking (and taking the rally-able damage), dodging, or hitting them (and maybe having time to parry or dodge still).

The delicate balance between these options is very important; if parrying were always the right option, then yeah it would just be Sekiro - that's not interesting. But perfect parrying is not the only way to build stagger which makes all options at least somewhat useful, and you can even build your p-organ (lol) and whetstone to help you build stagger with just attacks, more like Elden Ring's charged R2 stagger fishing. Sometimes if you aren't comfortable with a parry timing, then the right play is to dodge or block. Insisting there is only one right answer for approaching any given boss is inherently antithetical to this game's design - and I'd argue to Souls games in general.

And this brings me to another common complaint - the dodge isn't that good, and upgrade should not have been locked behind p-organ. I also really disagree with this, in part because I didn't actually really think the p-organ upgrades were that game changing. But it is also in part that if the dodge is too strong, like a DS3 roll, then again that balance is thrown out of wack and dodging becomes the right answer too often. This is still a "parry game", and if dodge becomes preferable to parrying, that's an issue. Parrying shouldn't be the only answer, but it also shouldn't be much weaker than other options. Additionally, having an especially weaker dodge at the beginning forces those stubborn Souls players to stop mashing the dodge button and force them to actually learn and engage with the parry mechanics - nudging you to learn without blatantly telling you to.

I did really enjoy the p-organ as a way to express and expand a player's build choices, though I felt like some nodes and slots were just completely useless, and the choice for which 2 nodes to go for was too obvious. If it were, for example, +1 heal, improved dodge, increased stagger damage, and damage mitigation, or something, that's a very compelling choice to do. But I don't use the cube and I don't think the stagger window is too short, etc., so I felt like some slots were just not that interesting. Phase 4 is a great example of a very compelling node choice, and I wished all of them were like that.

Though speaking of build choices, holy fucking shit this game's build options are SO COOL! I absolutely loved the modular weapon system, and I respecced a good few times to play with various different weapon combinations. The boss weapons were a little disappointing to me but that's ok because goddamn the weapon customization system carried the hell out of the game. I do wish the slash vs. stab proficiency wasn't as prominent but even with that, I was able to make so many silly weapons. Big sawblade baton/cleaver (which carried a lot of my playthrough), rocket wrench, crit dagger spear, etc.

Being able to use a blade I liked, keeping its upgrades, with a new handle that has a new moveset is just such an incredible idea that I can't believe From never thought of something like it. Each part also has their own weapon arts, and while they were a little homogenous at times, this kind of system has huge potential, especially if you can make it Ash of War-like and become a third layer of modularity. For a build diversity fanatic this was a goldmine, and I can see myself replaying it to get the other endings with a bunch of other weapon combinations and builds. For me, this was easily the best part of the game.

Something else I really liked that I think maybe would go under the wayside in discussions is how they present the story and quests. Souls fans might not like it if it feels too "handholdy" but I really appreciated the game telling me "yeah this NPC has shit to say to you right now". And the story itself was honestly pretty impressive, with some Souls-like "world discovery" moments but also mainly straightforwardly presenting moments and arcs, however intertwined. I did not expect what outwardly just looks like an edgy Pinocchio adaptation to have so much interesting lore, history, and plot moments. Probably one of the biggest surprise hits of the game for me.

But for as much as they really took the Souls formula and ran with it and elevated it, there are definitely some things I wished were improved on. The map design, both visually and in layout, was pretty disappointing. It's aesthetically good for sure, but nowhere near what From delivers. And in terms of layout, the maps are really quite linear, sure with twists and turns but hardly any exploration or branches to check out - map design elements I have come to know and love from playing the Soulsborne games.

Boss design I also felt was just a bit too inspired from Souls. Don't get me wrong, I think the boss quality is actually quite high and fits very well generally with the game's mechanics. But there are some bosses where I'm just like, ok I get why you wanted to include this because Souls has a habit of doing these, but you really didn't have to. There are a couple of bosses with extra appendages that swing after attacks (one especially takes after Gael, which I know people love, but..), and that's just really annoying to try to parry and I feel like I either end up bsing the parry, or I just eat the block chip damage. There are couple gank bosses... woo... I guess... But I did really enjoy most of the bosses (though nothing is breaking my top 10, probably). Just, I could really tell that this sure is a love letter to the Souls games from the boss design lol.

The music is actually quite good - boss themes and especially the records you collect are beautiful. But I am once again pretty disappointed by most of the game just being silent, which is a carry over from the Souls trilogy that I really wish did not carry over. Especially because there are segments that do have music that I really loved - notably the final area and the church with the organ music playing that fades out as you get further away from the main chapel. I dunno, it's not really worse than in the Souls games, but it just stings that much more that there is some really great music that they kind of just confine to the record player, which shows to me that they can make great ambient music but just didn't want to make any for the actual areas.

But despite that, overall, I truly loved playing this game. I think I honestly enjoyed it more than the Souls trilogy for sure, and maybe even more than Bloodborne (Sekiro and Elden Ring are still solidly near-perfect experiences and hard to beat). It plays nothing like Bloodborne, and is very distinct from Sekiro and the Souls games; it very boldly and excellently carves its own space within the genre. And with that post-credits scene (for which the big reveal was fucking hilarious), I surely cannot wait for what they make next, either a sequel or DLC, and the improvements they'll bring, as they expand this fairy-tale-verse (lol).

#lies of p

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less-than-three-3 · 1 year ago

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Armored Core 6 - it's good enough

Like probably 90% of people who've been playing AC6, I'm new to the AC franchise after playing the rest of Fromsoft's modern games, and while the game was pretty fun and I could see why it's a cult classic series, I don't know that it really pulled me in as strongly as I thought it would.

Again I thought the game was fun, don't get me wrong, but I definitely did not feel the strong draw to keep playing more and more like I did with other games - like with Elden Ring or the DS trilogy, to compare it with other Fromsoft titles. I will voice what I think contributed to that below, but the tldr is just that the structure and variety didn't really work for me (but it's likely a preference thing). No spoilers below.

I think the first and foremost obvious thing about the AC games is their mission-based format - and of course I knew they were like this going in. I mostly, consciously, viewed this as a positive, allowing me to pace myself better instead of playing for like 4 hours straight or something, and giving me the satisfaction of attempting different missions (read: bosses) with new builds. At the same time, though, I feel like in retrospect this felt a little limiting, especially in terms of plot structure.

Because of the format, essentially the whole story is told through mission debriefs, between-mission dialogues, and somewhat through events of the missions, and that just made me feel less invested, I feel, up until pretty much the endgame where you make a couple pretty big decisions. It also didn't really feel like a natural progression for the most part either, again until the latter half of the game, so I think for many people I'd understand if you feel disconnected from the story entirely because I don't think it does much to pull you in. There's even a multi-part mission that has the breaks to go back to the garage between different otherwise continuous segments of infiltrating a structure. It feels like the story is there to justify the game, as opposed to a world built for the game with the game being used to express that world's events. To many people that's enough, and I get that, but to me it kind of felt like a bit of a letdown.

But at least the game itself is well worth justification - this should really come as no surprise. Of course, being a game from the combat director of Sekiro, the combat and bosses are wonderful (though of course it is what you make of it). The transition from ranged sustained fire to the melee burst of the offhand is always such a satisfying loop. Stagger is very well implemented here, if maybe a little exploitable, and really adds to build considerations and combat approach. Ignoring the stupid "filter" discourse that I luckily have stopped seeing much of, this game does wonderfully to encourage build experimentation and searching for The Answer to various situations - not even just bosses, but scenarios like defense maps or long range/close quarters engagements need you to be flexible with your available AC builds or weapon options.

I do wish, though, that the weapons were generally more interesting. I think the melees are all wonderful and I genuinely love them all, but the guns and explosives were just like, ok. They each had their purposes, don't get me wrong, but I never felt that excited to use a new one for the most part. It kind of feels like the Souls trilogy weapon variety - it's technically there, but I feel like they all play fairly similarly and there's nothing that crazy different about them. That's fine, of course; AC is a series essentially built for number crunchers and spreadsheet lovers, and the weapon considerations do very well to really make you think about your stat tradeoffs. At the same time, though, I feel like to me that wore off about halfway through, since new additions to the shop just weren't particularly interesting or meaningfully more powerful. It's about that point where I just said fuck it and used double miniguns lol, and that honestly was mostly sustainable for the entirety of the second half.

It's not just the weapons though, I felt like the legs and general body considerations were mostly not too interesting, to me. But for this I feel like this might just be a personal issue. I pretty much stuck with the same couple legs for the entire game, and I really didn't feel like the entire rest of the leg options were particularly fun. I wish there were much more leg variety - the tank treads are actually a very good example of this kind of variety, but I felt like nothing else really spoke to me. But again that feels very much like a personal thing. The booster options were really cool though, I loved toying around with different booster options (and was really disappointed when tank treads had their own booster tied into them).

I had fun though! It's very noticeably a very good game, but just nothing topping my personal charts. I'd recommend it for sure - but maybe not as much as I'd recommend the Souls games (on sale on Steam right now!).

#armored core vi

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