Soulsborne Thread #10

[TheCzarsHussar]

2 hours ago, The Good Doctor said:

This is amazing. This guy who is apparently a legit archeologist does superb research in-game and I’m pretty sure correctly figured out the origins of the Nameless Eternal City. 

 

That's fascinating. I originally thought that Leyndell was built atop the ruins of the Nameless Eternal City. With the lower city being buildings that were never fully quarried for material or razed in conquest. Never realized the implications that it co-existed

[TheCzarsHussar]

Decided to start watching his earlier videos. If this is at all accurate, Marika was not the first vassal of the Greater Will. There was a figure in ancient ancient antiquity that threw down the old beliefs in favor of the Crucible.

 

[The Good Doctor]

6 hours ago, TheCzarsHussar said:

That's fascinating. I originally thought that Leyndell was built atop the ruins of the Nameless Eternal City. With the lower city being buildings that were never fully quarried for material or razed in conquest. Never realized the implications that it co-existed

Further evidence that he doesn’t mention is that the crippled gargoyles found all over the Nameless Eternal City are the same as the ones in Leyndell. 

[BigBossBalrog]

This reminds me of how people were able to find out that Darkroot in D1 was actually the remains of ancient Ooloacile by examining the ruins found scattered in the forest. 

[BigBossBalrog]

It's kind of funny but cool that there level design and world design is so good, you can use real archaeology methodology to gleam lore from these games  

[TheCzarsHussar]

There's more

 

Wasn't as spot on as the first video, but some of them perfectly convey that uncanny feeling. Also Patches was spot on

[BigBossBalrog]

I wish we could see more of the court intrigue that happened before the Shattering with the two sides of the royal family I would imagine it'd have been a similar situation with the Blacks and Greens from House? In terms of dynamics the game presents there personalities quite well, so you can easily imagine it

 

Rykard and Ranni would be there own power-bloc no question. The Lord of the Inquisition and the Moon Princess, two of the most powerful people in the Empire. Scheming manipulators, and perhaps very resentful of the whole situation with their parents. I'd imagine these would cause problems for the sake of causing problems, and be constantly trying to destabilize their half-siblings and step-siblings position in the court. Secretly full on treasonous or at the very least, want themselves to be the ones pulling the strings.   

Radahn is a little bit harder to imagine. I think there's alot of suggest he cares for both sides of his family...all the while probably thinking his army is his real family (He does seems to have a very good relationship with Rykard).  He at least seems to pay lip services to the Golden Order, but his one true loyalty ("I am the Lord of the Battlefield's lion") seems to be towards his exiled step-father, Godfrey alone. I'd imagine he'd be the type to only go to small-council super rarely, tell his family to fuck off cause he's not taking sides, and prefer to be on some military campaign away from the drama  

Godwyn is pretty much the untouchable golden child that everyone loves and respects (except for Rykard and Ranni who probably hate him even more). He's Marika's favorite child, Godfrey's first born, and everyone's "big-brother".  The dude is the mastermind between the Alliance with the Dragons, and hence when taken with the above, probably commands the most authority out of all of his siblings. I can see him using his power to de-escalate conflict's, championing the golden order, and just generally being the wise and responsible older prince. 

The Twins I think are pretty much the family "babies"; they are Marika's and Rady's children, and hence, since there both Empyreans, the crown-prince/princess. I'd say Miquella, despite his good nature, loves the attention, and would be straight in the forums, debating theology, and trying to do governance. He'd probably be a radical trying to abolish the Golden Order's barbaric practices. In contrast I'd say Malenia would be like her half-brother and just want to stay out of politics and leave it to her brother (all the while campaigning on his behalf and functioning as her brother's keeper). 

[The Good Doctor]

12 minutes ago, BigBossBalrog said:

I would imagine it'd have been a similar situation with the Blacks and Greens from House? 

Except somehow even more disfunctional.  And Viserys is a really good father/patriarch figure who tried his hardest and did the best that he could. Marika is downright awful. Somehow, Godfrey seems to come out looking like the best of the three/four parents.

And you forgot to mention the other twins. Morgott and Mohg were of course the outcasts, not allowed near any of it, and seemingly barely known to even exist. But they clearly seem to at least be aware of their demigod siblings, well enough that Mohg was able to get one over on the twin prodigies. We know Godfrey loved them and Godwyn seems to have inherited his father’s tolerance. So I think he probably would have as well, and same might go for Radahn if only because he seemingly respects his stepfather more than anyone else in the world.

18 minutes ago, BigBossBalrog said:

Rykard and Ranni would be there own power-bloc no question.

For sure. And I think you nailed their characterization.

Ranni in particular clearly has no love for her siblings on either side of the family considering that she ultimately has both Godwyn and Radahn killed without batting an eye.

At best, I could see Ranni maybe having had the the potential for an affiliation with Miquella due to their mutual distrust for the Golden Order and eventual betrayal of it. But I don’t get any impression that they were close or ever worked together. More likely they developed their seditious plans independently of one another, neither knowing that they might have succeeded if they’d instead cooperated.

As a former inquisitor, I wouldn’t be surprised if Rykard was responsible for more of Ranni’s ultimate plan than we even realize currently. They were clearly in cahoots. But after Ranni died, their plans basically froze in place because neither of them had any idea how to reach the Eternal City of Nokron. So he had to resort to more extreme measures of overthrowing the Greater Will.

Kinda makes Rykard more tragic if so. He probably only gave himself up to the Serpent because his sister was dead and it was his only clear option for pursuing their rebellion.

35 minutes ago, BigBossBalrog said:

Radahn

I think you nailed it. Radahn seems very much like the "can’t we all just get along?" guy, who can’t stand all the scheming and bickering and goes looking for a new war to distract himself with every time things get tense.

I think you got the twins right too. I doubt they were close to any of their other siblings besides Godwyn to an extent. Ironically, I think that under happier circumstances, Radahn and Malenia could have been good friends. They are the two with the most in common.

[BigBossBalrog]

9 minutes ago, The Good Doctor said:

Except somehow even more disfunctional.  And Viserys is a really good father/patriarch figure who tried his hardest and did the best that he could. Marika is downright awful. Somehow, Godfrey seems to come out looking like the best of the three/four parents.

 

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And you forgot to mention the other twins. Morgott and Mohg were of course the outcasts, not allowed near any of it, and seemingly barely known to even exist. But they clearly seem to at least be aware of their demigod siblings, well enough that Mohg was able to get one over on the twin prodigies. We know Godfrey loved them and Godwyn seems to have inherited his father’s tolerance. So I think he probably would have as well, and same might go for Radahn if only because he seemingly respects his stepfather more than anyone else in the world.

For sure. And I think you nailed their characterization.

Ranni in particular clearly has no love for her siblings on either side of the family considering that she ultimately has both Godwyn and Radahn killed without batting an eye.

At best, I could see Ranni maybe having had the the potential for an affiliation with Miquella due to their mutual distrust for the Golden Order and eventual betrayal of it. But I don’t get any impression that they were close or ever worked together. More likely they developed their seditious plans independently of one another, neither knowing that they might have succeeded if they’d instead cooperated.

As a former inquisitor, I wouldn’t be surprised if Rykard was responsible for more of Ranni’s ultimate plan than we even realize currently. They were clearly in cahoots. But after Ranni died, their plans basically froze in place because neither of them had any idea how to reach the Eternal City of Nokron. So he had to resort to more extreme measures of overthrowing the Greater Will.

Kinda makes Rykard more tragic if so. He probably only gave himself up to the Serpent because his sister was dead and it was his only clear option for pursuing their rebellion.

I think you nailed it. Radahn seems very much like the "can’t we all just get along?" guy, who can’t stand all the scheming and bickering and goes looking for a new war to distract himself with every time things get tense.

I think you got the twins right too. I doubt they were close to any of their other siblings besides Godwyn to an extent. Ironically, I think that under happier circumstances, Radahn and Malenia could have been good friends. They are the two with the most in common.

And they didn't eat literal pieces of a cosmic principle that may or may not have driven them bonkers 

I think Godfrey would be like having a Dad whose super tolerant of your quirks and understanding, and then suddenly he gets a call from Mom and says "Sorry kiddo got genocide these fire giants. Nothing personal, just like to kill shit!" 

And yeah, Gywn and Marika would have gotten along so well as abusive parents 

I was assuming since Morgott's such a talented bureaucrat and general, he was at least raised with an education of some kind, and i'd assume the same for his brother, whose equally as cunning and well-spoken. Morgott must have has some base of power to seize the stewardship of Leyndell from under the rug, so I think it's a good guess to assume he had a good relationship with his older brother. There's also the fact; Mohg named his palace and future Royal family as MOHGWYN, so maybe even HE liked his brother, enough to honor him after his death. The two Omens I think were originally on the same side, till there paths diverged.

Ranni actually reminds me of an unholy combination of Alicent and Rhaenyra  She's got Rhaenyra's bad-girl streak, but with Alicent's alpha-bitch "I like to pretend i'm a super nice girl" kind of spunk.

 

[TheCzarsHussar]

Radahn is too busy fighting literal outer gods and their machinations to squabble over petty shit

[TheCzarsHussar]

Here's a thought, The Outer God of Rot is said to have been dead by the time we arrive in the scene.

What if it was Radahn that killed it? I dont think there's anything that states Malenia did it in, aside from despising it and all it's influence before she blooms for the final time and it's essentially resurrected.

Maybe that could be a major reason he never backed down against Malenia and fought her so violently. He knew what the Scarlet Rot was capable of having thrown down with it's godly progenitor.

[The Good Doctor]

3 minutes ago, TheCzarsHussar said:

Radahn is too busy fighting literal outer gods and their machinations to squabble over petty shit

Those fools are arguing over equality while Chadahn spends 100% of his time literally holding back a cosmic invasion!!!

[The Good Doctor]

4 minutes ago, TheCzarsHussar said:

Here's a thought, The Outer God of Rot is said to have been dead by the time we arrive in the scene.

What if it was Radahn that killed it? I dont think there's anything that states Malenia did it in, aside from despising it and all it's influence before she blooms for the final time and it's essentially resurrected.

Maybe that could be a major reason he never backed down against Malenia and fought her so violently. He knew what the Scarlet Rot was capable of having thrown down with it's godly progenitor.

I’m still confused on the nature of outer gods in general. Do they even have corporeal forms?

And wasn’t the "god of rot" supposedly just sealed away?

[TheCzarsHussar]

11 minutes ago, The Good Doctor said:

I’m still confused on the nature of outer gods in general. Do they even have corporeal forms?

We know the Frenzied Flame is an Outer God and it's corporeal form materializes during it's ending.

I think there's something of metaphysical tiers of Outer Gods. I doubt Greater Will is any kind of enthroned entity and is more of a fundamental or cosmic force with a consciousness and will.

While other lesser Outer Gods do have forms that are likely still very abstract as the Frenzied Flame. Such as the Formless Mother. Who you have to physically gore to use her incantations.

11 minutes ago, The Good Doctor said:

And wasn’t the "god of rot" supposedly just sealed away?

Good point, I forgot about that. Then it was likely Miquella's doing

[TheCzarsHussar]

Minor note with the Nameless Mother, Fromsoft buffed those incantations a few patches ago. Of the three, two were cool as hell but functionally poor, while the lamest one was stupid strong.

Now using the two cool ones are powerful and useful!

[The Good Doctor]

18 minutes ago, TheCzarsHussar said:

We know the Frenzied…

Adding spoiler tags for this kind of stuff now that Colonel has the game.  

 

The Frenzied Flame manifests through a physical medium: The body of our Tarnished who already had a presence in the world.

Same goes for Scarlet Rot. We never see evidence of a physical god of Rot until Malenia becomes exactly that.

Could be something similar with Radagon and the Greater Will. Or at least the Elden Beast that it left behind.

And whatever crazy nonsense Mohg is brewing up, his Formless Mother seems to be incorporeal, at least on this plane of existence. Hence the name. 

Granted, I still believe that the GW and FF are two sides of a coin that is above all the rest. Order/Life and Chaos/Death being much more fundamental than anything represented by any of the other "outer gods".

[The Good Doctor]

@ColonelKillaBee

Have you played any today?

[TheCzarsHussar]

Oh another one that existed somewhat physically.

The Fire Giant's Fell God. It existed through the Fire Giants, and lived again for a short time before putting to rest the final one.

[The Good Doctor]

8 minutes ago, TheCzarsHussar said:

 

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Oh another one that existed somewhat physically.

The Fire Giant's Fell God. It existed through the Fire Giants, and lived again for a short time before putting to rest the final one.

 

 

 

 

Good catch. That’s another god that is only ever seen physically when it manifests in a non-god entity that already had a physical form beforehand.

Definitely a pattern. The closest we ever come to seeing an "outer god" or something presumed to be an outer god, in a physical form of its own, independently of any "host", is the Formless Mother's burning blood. Which are incantations that Mohg managed to develop through some high-level metaphysical tomfoolery involving unknown centuries of experimentation on an Empyrean subject.

[ColonelKillaBee]

1 hour ago, The Good Doctor said:

@ColonelKillaBee

Have you played any today?

nah but ima finish what i was doin last night and kill the guy in prison after too

[The Good Doctor]

2 minutes ago, ColonelKillaBee said:

nah but ima finish what i was doin last night and kill the guy in prison after too

You’ll piece him up real easy after getting a good night’s sleep. Works every time.  

I’m excited for you to meet the Crucible Knight. 

[ColonelKillaBee]

44 minutes ago, The Good Doctor said:

You’ll piece him up real easy after getting a good night’s sleep. Works every time.  

I’m excited for you to meet the Crucible Knight. 

You were right lol first try, dodge rolls and longsword weapon art

[ColonelKillaBee]

shields good for mobs still to me and not gettin ran over but bosses, two hand that bish same as ds

[TheCzarsHussar]

5 minutes ago, ColonelKillaBee said:

shields good for mobs still to me and not gettin ran over but bosses, two hand that bish same as ds

Two handing longswords are actually really nice this time around.

I'd argue that either power standing or two handing is better than one handing a straight sword.

[TheCzarsHussar]

Can't wait for Colonel to encounter the Godskin Order and Rykard. Those are two things I'd love to hear his thoughts on.