Elden Ring - It's still not perfect

The Night's Cavalry is the latest in a long line of enemies who were, on paper, apparently meant to cause a lot more trouble for the player.
Song used: Central Village - King's Field OST

[@ZullietheWitch]

An odd little note is that in earlier versions of the game text, Mohg actually held the title of "Mohg the Fell Omen". Considering Morgott has the actual voice line referring to the Night's Cavalry as Hands of the Fell Omen though, it's hard to guess if a connection between the them and Mohg was ever actually considered or if the titles just got superficially shuffled around.

[@TheFizio]

Related to this: on my first enemy randomizer run, margit was replaced by "Mohg the Fell Omen" lol

[@SaintHanger]

Maybe a fell omen is simply one whose horns haven’t been removed-a royal omen

[@artemaniaco293]

the insider "Omnipotent" pointed out back in early 2020 in ResetEra that there would be wandering enemies with non-static patrols. This and your video make me think there was hope within fromsoft that, with the open world, wandering enemies could finally be applied. But yeah, in the end Elden Ring's world functions basically like the souls game worlds but with a more open design!

[@JackManic1984]

Maybe the hands of the fell omen isn't like we think. Maybe they are the hands that delivered the fell omens to their destinations. Either death or the sewers for royal omens.

[@vileluca]

Would make sense for knights whose armor was colored black with dried blood.

[@DivineBanana]

Sounds terrifying to imagine Fromsoftware's take on a super powerful nemesis-style enemy that just relentlessly pursues the player. I hope they get the mechanic right in a future game, seems like a nightmarish treat for the players!

[@cissuperdroid]

*Ahem* Pursuer (DkS II)

[@jonnyalec5646]

@@cissuperdroid pursuer was a failed attempt

[@nebs6888]

@@jonnyalec5646 Good attempt though! It's always a scare when it pops up in an area you didn't know spawned it.

[@todo5183]

@@cissuperdroid the pursuer like most bosses in dark souls 2, was such a pushover

[@dustinleebladesmith9135]

Does no one think the bell bearing hunter is good enough?

[@stephanie_jjb]

Actually, that tidbit about the Black knights originally supposed to be roaming enemies might explain a glitch from the first game. For those that are unaware there was a glitch where Black knights could have their spawn location reset if they kill you to wherever their currently standing. A lot of people have been chased back to bonfires only to basically be soft locked because they can't defeat the Black Knight that is now spawn killing them, including me on my first playthrough. The thing is this only happens with Black knights. So if they were originally intended to be some kind of roaming enemy who constantly changes location, this might explain that glitch.

[@haloeightYT]

i have never seen or heard of this before. do you have a vid or something? because it sounds hysterical

[@kjartanventer7697]

Damn, that sounds fucking horrible and hilarious.

[@zaleost]

I never encountered that myself, mostly because I never used a bonfire to escape one, but I've definitely heard this one mentioned before actually and it does kinda make sense if this was part of the original intention.

[@Gensolink]

I do remember the parish black knight ignoring my bonfire rest once and was really confused about it

[@johjoh9270]

Sounds cool af, but idk, doesn't make much sense when it comes to coding I think unless they intentionally left that in as an easter egg or sth

[@haydenandersen9937]

Just an audible footnote that I found interesting pertaining to the Night's Cavalry, the "Phantom Slash" ash of war tells us that the Night's Cavalry would summon the fond remembrances of their mentors, guiding their strike. Surprisingly wholesome!

[@grunglthor8312]

Elden Ring jedis

[@kevinquintana2647]

Sounds anime.

[@jooot_6850]

Wonder who taught these guys, then. Surely not Morgott himself?

[@Arrakiz666]

@@jooot_6850 Why not? Morgott himself uses a fighting style based on summoning phantom weapons in a dazzling combo of blows, seems like his knights do a very similar thing.

[@LSB44446]

Odd that they never use the move themselves

[@Legacy0901]

The Night's Cavalry will hold a special place in my heart just because they were my introduction to night time bosses. It blew my mind going back through an area I already cleared and seeing a whole boss that wasn't there before

[@Kerrfuffle]

They'd be much better if they got off their horses at will and back on them like the player could. They're pretty much downgraded Tree Sentinels the way they are and usually die in 1 visceral after you dismount them.

[@IHMyself]

​@@KerrfuffleYeah, I think these guys should've been way more of a threat. :/

[@Delvokian]

I actually beat the entire game, over the course of 100 hours, without knowing there was such thing as night bosses.

[@blackrat1228]

That was one of the bigger reasons Morgott's threat didn't line up at first for the Nights Calvary, they just seemed like special bosses instead of hunters tracking you down. Imagine if it was more of a Nemesis type of enemy where when night time came they'd just blindside you randomly. Only issue with that would be players running towards grace sites to advance the time of day.

[@ladyabaxa]

As I was watching the video I kept thinking "FromSoftware hasn't gotten this idea to work but Capcom has... sort of." Mr. X from RE2Remake and Lady D from RE8 don't exactly have true free roaming and they're confined to specific maps but they will hunt you from one end of their stomping grounds to another if they detect your presence. The "players running towards grace sites to advance the time of day" so as to avoid night time danger actually reminds me of Darkwood. Staying out at night in that game isn't just dangerous, it is inevitably lethal if you don't make it back to your hideout in time. Even then you'll spend all night fighting to defend your base from a horde. Of course Darkwood isn't entirely unique in that regard. The Kingdom games also have enemies spawn after sundown on most nights (the only real freebie nights are right after a blood moon) with your own forces automatically retreating inside the walls for protection. At first it's not a big deal to the player as they can just bribe the little greedlings to go away but after enough nights the bigger greed start joining the nightly attack and they can't be bribed. Anyway, that diversion is just to say that players fearing and actively avoiding being out at night isn't a new thing nor should it be seen as something inherently bad for game design.

[@vwts]

The Persona series games have a literal grim reaper (just like in DeS) that will come after you if you stay in a map for too long. That could work too, you’d have some urgency to explore at certain times because otherwise you’d start to be hunted. Imagine having that in Latria or the poison swamp lol

[@user-xf8we6tf4e]

@@vwts"oh no,i sense death",**rattling chains,FUCKING RUN!!**. That used to scare the shit out me and still does. I mean even the enemy model is super scary. After i got strong enough i solo'd that bitch for revenge. How dare he attack me while I'm like lvl 8.

[@GuitarGuy057]

Honestly, as long as they hinted at chasing you or showed up at miscellaneous points showing that they're hunting you, I'd have been more than cool with a fixed point where they catch up with you and there's a scripted battle after a cutscene where they finally close in.

[@shotgunmasterQL]

Fun fact; supposedly the Nemesis system is patented, so other developers aren't allowed to use it unless they skirt around the patent.

[@genevaconventionsviolator3994]

I honestly felt like Elden Ring was was the perfect game for this concept, with vast open fields you can ran away from enemies in. Making your way through a field of very dangerous enemies was always a thrilling experience, but i was always left wanting more. Like accidentally agro-ing a dragon leading to it chasing you through different regions, and even finding you far away as it searches for you. Or the Night Cavalry ganging up on you at midnight as you get closer to Lyndell

[@floriandolder8111]

@tecklefob I am kind of sad that the system of random encounters has seemingly not been developed that much since Skyrim. The sense of adventure provided by some unique, one-time encounters that can pop up anywhere is nothing to scoff at.

[@HellecticMojo]

Problem is that it just turns the early game into bullshit where instead of learning, you just hope to not get stuck with some enemy.

[@arcanefire7511]

True, but also the hardest games to implement this in.

[@lemon__snicker5973]

That's a balancing and development nightmare, we're years away from being able to implement that kind of detail. The game was already hugely ambitious (and not airtight) as it is.

[@ididntaskverified3663]

You know how ambitious it was for eldin ring to become open world, it could have been a battlefield 2042 if it was not made the way it is, a open world dark souls was like a joke in 2019

[@_Jay_Maker_]

Ironically, the DLC to _Dragon's Dogma, Dark Arisen,_ has the character of Death kind of stalking you through the entire Island that the DLC takes place in as soon as you find Death for the first time. If there's ever an abundance of corpses, enemies that feast on those corpses, or Death himself, have a chance to appear. It's sounds very similar to the mechanics FROM wanted to put into their games, but never did. It's extremely cool.

[@yourpalphalanx9678]

Chad comment love dark arisen

[@JBrander]

You could also feel that death has entered the map because the screen distorts and the terrifying music begins to play. Man, I miss Dragon's Dogma.

[@Forkontheleft]

Necrophages were terrifying when I first entered bitterblack isle

[@lopamurblamo]

That confirms it, that Morgott line had me wondering whether the Calvary was meant to have more of a prominent role in gameplay than they did.

[@OHG_Fawx]

"COWER IN FEAR OF THE NIGHT!.............in a few key locations..."

[@rwberger6]

@@OHG_Fawx "Cower in fear over how they can be tricked into jumping off ledges and bridges"

[@ZullietheWitch]

@@OHG_Fawx "Cower in fear. Of the night. (Terms and conditions may apply)"

[@InColdBloodTTG]

@@OHG_Fawx sounds like something from a Monty Python sketch lol

[@mb2001]

Darn… What a shame. That line both makes sense, and sounds a tad toothless. :/

[@ridetoruin]

It would’ve been interesting if they implemented a hidden “wanted level” that would draw Nights Cavalry to you. It would intensify the closer you got to the Erdtree along with each main story boss you beat to get there.

[@louieberg2942]

While that idea sounds pretty cool, they should avoid what happened in Final Fantasy 15, where enemies just randomly dropped in with very high frequency (too high, in my opinion). It's a tough balancing act, I think.

[@Adam-ni6ne]

I wonder how different Elden Ring would feel to play if there was basically a constant increasing chance of being attacked by one of these guys. Like instead of a standard open world game where you can stop and smell the flowers if you want, it would be like every moment you spend out in the open not completing an objective leads to increasing risk. Make the game more like you are being pursued. On some level I think it would be really unique, but I'm not sure I would like it more than what we got.

[@Bodwaizer]

Wait a minute, they said there will be Need for Speed chases in Elden Ring...

[@Solaire_of_Astora13]

Kill enough NPCs and random... guardian angels weirdos will show up in your world to scare you off into not doing that. The first one is easy, but if you kill too many, maybe two will show and gank you up. Maybe a vow or a price could alleviate their presence. Easy to avoid, so you know a beginner wouldn't get into trouble (unless they wanted to) and would encourage players to seek other solutions as opposed to just being merciless.

[@bobjim245]

Sounds like a living hell.... I'd play the crap out of it though, would have made for some super stealth content, having to hide in the bushes as 3 knights cavalry stalk the night time streets of leyndell or liurnia barring that I barley used stealth unless I found ANOTHER FUCKING RUNEBEAR

[@jessesutton7985]

I love the way From has nurtured this series. They're constantly trying to get their ideas to manifest as technology and skill allow them to do more and more. Iterating on ideas and sticking to them to try and fix them in the long run, but not forcing a system they haven't gotten working into the game just because they've wanted it for so long. Great stuff. I know they aren't perfect and unfinished/polished stuff gets is all over the series, but that's not all quite the same, and you don't have to be perfect to be respectable.

[@DS_DoggerX]

Between the music, the exclusivity of nighttime, their designs, and the speed of their fight, these guys are some of the most memorable enemies in the series imo. It feels almost as if you're being hunted by a faction more powerful than yourself, and each one you kill is an attempt at survival. The first one I found was on the weeping peninsula, and the way he emerges out of a structure as if he's making an appearance onto a stage left a lasting impression on me. They are fucking cool.

[@themanofman1892]

There's one on the bridge in limgrave leading to weeping pennisula that I encountered first, really cool even if it was just passing the bridge. It felt like it was waiting for me and if I wanted to go east through limgrave, I would have to get through him.

[@SolaScientia]

I avoided the one in the Weeping Peninsula because I was in no way ready for it. Being a higher level now with a better handle on mounted combat, I need to return and fight him properly. I did try to fight him, but I hadn't realized he's only there at night, so I was thinking that either he got patched out or I was meant to encounter him before clearing out the castle.

[@jjjordan3881]

@@SolaScientia yea u can go back and kill them at any time in ur playthrough. Think theres 5 of em. Something like that.

[@derdrakkar]

And it's kinda funny how easy they ended up being, the flail version is literally unable to hit you (aside from their charge-spin attack) if you just run straight at it, and then past it while on torrent.

[@whwhywhywhywhywhywhy]

Completely forgettable enemy for me. Easy fights, easily skipped, easily forgotten. no lore or plot really attached to them either. Did kill a rider but not the horse once, which was neat

[@limitnil]

Within my first couple of hours of playing Elden Ring I had an interesting experience. I didn't have my horse yet, I picked Wretch, I was very weak and didn't know much about this game beyond "it's big dark souls". I was lost in Limgrave at night, fighting some random godrick soldiers, still trying to shake off the soulslike rust. Suddenly, I get clobbered by this black knight who seemingly showed up out of nowhere, and, to my surprise, was an actual boss. I obviously died to him, and for the next several hours exploring at night time was genuinely tense and felt very unsafe, knowing there are threats like this lurking out there. Discovering how the Night's Cavalry actually works was immensely disappointing. That first encounter was a great experience I wanted more of, and it turned out to just be an accident.

[@sadomasochris1337]

Much like you, my experience with the DS series was very limited, and I received a similar surprise battering from that Limgrave knight! After my initial clobbering, I tried (unsuccessfully) to defeat him for 5 hours straight. I guess that speaks to the learning curve of the game, since in my second play through I managed to strike him down on the first attempt. ☠️

[@MVCx_xB]

Them being called Nazgul in the files is really telling of the amount of inspiration GRRM took while writing this, and that they serve Morgott (which is a letter off from Morgoth) is telling. The story coalesces so many themes from nature/trees, alchemy, and middle earth style shit like this that it's truly inspiring how it's made to fit together

[@LtCdrXander]

The Nazgûl are so terrifying in both the LoTR books and movies, so it's a shame that the Night's Cavalry didn't live up to the scariness factor of being relentlessly hunted down, like Margit's post-defeat voiceline suggested.

[@fabijanbaric9816]

CTRL+V

[@legateelizabeth]

Or Martin is a hack.

[@lordmuhehe4605]

Yeah, let's call it inspiration.

[@azzor4134]

I don't think he designed the enemies and their models...

[@tactic_homelles7019]

Through all of these wandering guys there is a one, who will pursue me forever in my nightmares. And u didn't mentioned him - Forlorn, the one and only who has the most (I think) spawn points through the from's games and who really pursues the player BTW his design also seems being made with inspiration of nazguls

[@WereScrib]

Forlorn DEFINITELY, he was the only one that actually felt like he was pursuing me. His loads of spawn points and totally random nature to his spawns made him feel like a deep frustration on some of my play throughs.

[@BastardMan]

I dunno man, they overused Forlorn to the point he felt more like the game's Team Rocket lol. Less of a threat every time but he just wouldn't quit, bless him

[@WereScrib]

@@BastardMan that's true, he didn't exactly, uh, scale up well. But he was the only one who felt like he was actually after you.

[@AdjustedDisparity]

I still love in Otzdarva's no hit run video where he has a segment dedicated to what the fuck, forlorn can invade here, why does this game hate me

[@DeathL0ck]

The intersection of this, that they were possibly intended as wandering enemies, and that they are the culmination of FromSoft's attempts at mounted enemies is a really fascinating point, imo. More than other enemies, the Night's Cavalry are the current fruits of many years' of labor in several different endeavors.

[@trollparadox9371]

I think it’s also worth noting that the Irithyll Knights also fall into this category.

[@Winter-King]

The idea of a foe pursuing the player at night trough the lands sounds terrifying and awesome at the same time, having to deal with this foe depending on the environment and gear is very interesting.

[@slicksilver2961]

When I first saw the Night Calvary, I was ecstatic because they looked just like the ring wraiths from lord of the Rings. But outside of that, I’m really surprised they might very well be tarnished, with their gold eyes and all. Also, the fact that they summon their horses, similar to how we summon torrent makes me think that the horses are not simple horses. Hopefully FromSoft nails the following enemy because that would make for an interesting game system... sort of like the Majima everywhere system but more terrifying.

[@NetherStray]

Thing is that they're not tarnished, as tarnished don't have the grace of gold in their eyes anymore.

[@BigMac87963]

Imagine if FromSoft made a level in a future game where a Nemesis-like boss pursues you throughout - only you can’t kill it until you destroy a special item like with Seath

[@glorytoukraine5524]

Hello, Zullie. During a playthrough of Elden ring, I saw Hewg on all fours, making pig noises. When talked to, he said "Don't worry, it's nothing", or something along those lines. Neither he, nor Roderika had dialogue discussing this phenomenon, and it was over once I rested at the grace. Is there any way to check if such an animation and voiceline exists for Hewg's character, and if there are any triggers for it? I have never encountered this at any point later in my subsequent playthroughs

[@yungmattyk]

it was probably his praying animation and you misheard whatever what was going on around as pig noises

[@ZullietheWitch]

Hewg uses the same base model and animation set as the Scaly Misbegotten enemies, and that sounds like one of their common idle poses. I'm not sure what could have misfired to make him use that animation, but he definitely has access to it.

[@glorytoukraine5524]

@@ZullietheWitch that makes a lot of sense, actually. Maybe it accidentally triggered this animation, and the engine mistook it for the prayer pose, which triggered the dialogue, but not the dialogue option, since the event itself hadn't happened

[@linkdude64]

@everyone I'm just gonna go with a cosmic ray flipping a bit in memory to make him pose that way lol

[@makenaiyomi1083]

I think I actually had the same yesterday. I left my character next to Hewg for a little break and when I was in the kitchen I heard this strange sound and went back because I was confused what it was.

[@stevsux4442]

I will never forget my first Night's Cavalry encounter, I was doing some light farming of the enemies near the bridge for the last 15 minutes or so when it had hit night time and the next go of killing the enemies on the bridge just as I was about to hit the last enemy I exploded into a pile of dust dying in 1 hit from the nights cavalry running up and doing the leaping slam on me from behind then casually walking away. I didn't see another night's cavalry for like 10 hours and I was terrified the whole time of what caused him to attack me the first time

[@OJuggernautO]

It would be pretty insane to have an enemy tracking you down the entire time. And you’d get some kind of visual or audio alert that he’s near, so you’d have to run or hide, because fighting him would be certain death because he’d be a really powerful enemy. This would actually help prevent people farming, or at least add another element to it!

[@Leonidas1210vc]

Was Alien Isolation kinda like that?

[@FOXY_SPHYNX]

@@Leonidas1210vc alien isolation had a dual AI system that knew where you were at, at all times. it was pretty busted

[@Notthebloodgod812]

I love the whole Nazgûl esthetic they have, truly one of my favourite bosses

[@umbranex9274]

down to there even being 9 of them in total in the game

[@Jormyyy]

@@umbranex9274 I thought there were 10?

[@ZullietheWitch]

@@Jormyyy There are 9 encounters, but 10 total Night's Cavalry, because one of the encounters is a duo.

[@jackkendall6420]

@@Jormyyy There are, I think they're counting the duo in Snowfield as one. Ten riders for ten fingers => the 'hands' of the Fell Omen.

[@lordofchaosinc.261]

"What if we take the Nazgul horses but put the Nazgul capes on the horses?"

[@Mister_Eiffel]

I'd like to see more Night Cavalry spawns. Like, **way more**. It'd be cool if they just spawned on roads near your location during nighttime, patrolling between graces as it hunts for you. Having something that really makes you think twice about wandering at night, let alone using the main road. Also make their aggro range way bigger to suggest that they're scouting for you. Maybe making groups of them kinda like the one in the snowfields too.

[@JG-fj6xq]

respawning boss, and at random areas, a percent chance encounter at night.. it would terrify me in a great way :) I might be afraid to play even if FROMSOFT did this with deathrite birds, night cavalry, and that grafted scion that teleports while spitting poison and screaming(that one is the true nightmare fuel)

[@sheevpalps66]

Maybe in one of the future DLCs they can try to make a wandering enemy a reality, I would think it would be less of a hassle if it is relegated to a smaller DLC map rather than the larger map of the main game.

[@ghoulishgoober3122]

The dlc takes place in a grand library the size of a city. Making too much noise draws The Librarian...shhh!

[@HateSonneillon]

You telling me they've been attempting to fit a Nemesis-like enemy into this series? Thats amazing! I hope they accomplish this eventually as I would love to be terrified of that. Imagine after defeating Margit, whenever night falls, there's a chance that a knights cavalry will spawn near try to track you down and chase you.

[@boltok0598]

The eerie background music on your videos really complement them so much, no matter what type of video it is.

[@SethAbercromby]

The issue I imagine is that Fromsoft and Miyazaki usually adhere to an internal standard of fairness. A roaming miniboss that can just randomly ambush you will lead to a lot of sudden and unfair feeling deaths, so either the difficulty of the enemy has to be scaled back to be more appropriate to their role, or you upgrade them into a more strictly defined role but lose on versatility.

[@sanguisbumb6138]

I don’t think it unfair in the sense that running into a trap and dying is unfair. As was stated in the video they would’ve only appeared at night. So the first time the player encounters them it would be at night making them a lot more cautious about the time.

[@apassionatenerd.3564]

@@sanguisbumb6138 but in this scenario, you didn't run into the trap, the trap ran into you while your minding your own business.

[@charchadonto]

@@apassionatenerd.3564 A way to make it more fair is if they anounce their presence first. Like a loud hunting horn blaring in the distance, giving you a heads up they will spawn and hunt you down, giving you time to stop what you are doing and prepare or run.

[@akewlanima151]

Im gonna be honest, I can't tell which I prefer. The feeling of thrill being chased by Night's Cavalry wherever you go. Or the safety that I'm not.

[@KooblayKhan]

In Castle Morne territory, the Night's Calvary does wander enough that you can be in your inventory by the merchant near the site of grace, hear boss music, wonder what's going on, and get absolutely jump scared by something smashing you out of your inventory.

[@teamspanglish]

The biggest issue I think is that even if they figured out how to make them free roam randomly, it would be extremely frustrating to a player that's trying to track they down for the gear they drop. To avoid this frustration they would need to not have unique drops but that would remove what makes them cool.

[@germanrud9904]

I really think min maxing has ruined gamer brains. Having hard to access gear from rare spawns that you may not see until several hundred hours into the game is cool. Not everything should be able to be tracked down, triangulated and found immediately. Get me?

[@teamspanglish]

@@germanrud9904 I hear ya, but I think it's fun to do themed builds for pvp and it's annoying when getting the gear you want for a build depends on rng after you've already gone through the trouble of finding where it is to begin with. People who use the wiki to find where stuff is are just ruining the fun for themselves.

[@crestfallenwarrior5719]

I like the way your videos appear ominously in my recommendations. Theyre popping up, i'll view the whole image and the title and the Thumbnail are always fitting, interesting and dont feel like clickbait. Everything is written in normal letters, not in captions and all. There doesnt seem to be a real structure in your upload schedule which sounds like a bad thing at first, but the better it is If you upload, because i dont expect anything at the moment. Always a pleasure, thank you Zullie. Sincerely.

[@junkolover9518]

Ah yes, the boss that struggles with his moveset just as much as you struggle to land a hit. First time i met him i thought that without the horse i'll finally help him to become a boss, but... unfortunately, he summoned the horse right back.

[@niwaka273]

Love your style ^^ The background music, the simple text and visuals to underline everything. Truly, there is beauty in simplicity. Like a grande pizza margarita 🤌

[@MattsterG]

I forget how good Kings Field music is and then I watch these videos and it all comes flooding back.

[@merouln700]

Wow, when you showed that they had actual eyes, it became incredibly unsettling. Really uncanny as: -You wouldn't expect them to have them (like DS1 Black Knights) -Their eyes are clean compared to the eyes of the vast majority of the enemies -Yet keep that golden color that doesn't make them human They are strangely implied to be good looking, which is so unlike the rest of their design.

[@ZullietheWitch]

The golden color isn't necessarily inhuman. There's a snippet of text in the character creation menu that references it, calling it "The gold of grace shining in the eyes of the people of the Lands Between." It seems to represent the ability to see the guidance of grace from the Erdtree, which the Tarnished lost.

[@merouln700]

@@ZullietheWitch They may not be inhuman in the Elden Ring universe, but IRL they would be. Either way their existence clearly rubs me the wrong way

[@canaldecasta]

Miyakazi on his dead bed: The wandering enemy was you, the player, all along

[@Morbak546]

The randomness of the Forlorn's invasions are quite fitting for wandering fighter clad in black too

[@gadbel685]

Cool concept of enemy, but is too bad that they decided that when you die it turns to day and you have to pass the time again. So annoying.

[@tempusimperious5962]

A way fromsoft could do it is give the illusion of being pursued. Every so often the enemy would wordlessly spawn some distance away, somewhere on the player’s calculated route, and attempt to intercept the player. Sometimes the encounters would be programmed so that the player could flee, sometimes they could see it coming a mile off and proactively evade it. But sometimes its AI would be cranked up enough a fight would be inevitable. You would finally have to face your fear. And god help you if more than one spawned

[@Kira1Lawliet]

I really like the idea of a random enemy that's designed to literally chase you down to the ends of the earth if you trigger combat with it. Like, imagine an enemy in Elden Ring that could literally hound you across the ENTIRE map of the game, and the only way to stop it is for either you to kill it or for it to kill you. That would freak people out, and be a really fun idea.

[@d3f4ultinput]

Revenants are sort of capable of this but if you think running from one is a viable strategy you’re likely to die before exiting its residence

[@GenteelViolence]

I love them. They are fun to watch and fight. I was so surprised when Cuckoo Knight turn into one in the nighttime!

[@SGT_Squid_Dog]

The Elden Ring DLC is called Shadow of the Erdtree, so the area might be permanently really dark if the area is always dark, due to it being in a shadow, this seems like the perfect place to have enemies that chase you wherever you go as you restore lost graces to be beacons of light in the shadow. However, with each grace that gives a zone of safety, more enemies will pursue you in the darkness to try and snuff out the light-bringer. Another neat touch would be using incantations like Order's Blade (I think that's what it's called) to grant the player an increased area to see, as well as an incantation for shields, if there is one. Alternatively, because I'm pretty sure there is at least some amount of time travel in fromsoft games, we leave the lands between past the Haligtree to enter its shadow occupying a land of eternal darkness. Sounds very similar to some Dark Souls ending where you refuse to link the fire. This is just me spit-balling some random ideas I came up with, I don't really expect this to be the DLC, but it's still neat to think about

[@flavinho-]

Honestly ur channel is really cool and I even remember watching ur channel when I played dk3 (I'm currently playing demon souls remake lol) New sub!

[@JackJonValois]

The Bell Bearing Hunter seems like the perfected goal, imagine him coming out of nowhere on a horse to kick your ass.

[@austinsavage5962]

Imagine just chillin at the grace and a nights calvary shows up and blasts you

[@TheSuckoShow]

Sorta reminds me of a favorite Red Dead 2 feature, the bounty hunters that can show up when your bounty is high enough. But that's more like randomly occurring events than free-wandering enemies.

[@kokorochacarero8003]

An enemy that constantly pursues you at night giving you no quarter could've been another nice Berserk reference

[@davedavidson8892]

Imagine a show of mordor boss encounter where you're fighting the fire giant then you here someone yell "Tarnish" and the camera pans to the black night Calvary boss

[@rowairr7385]

The most stressful line in the whole game. I was always antsy at night wondering when I would get ganked, now I learn it's a massive troll. Thank you dark souls.

[@hobosorcerer]

Man, I really wish From would hire some competent software engineers. It's kind of embarrassing how such artistically beautiful games can have such half-baked ideas in their games nearly a decade after the initial concept.

[@jackkendall6420]

I think it's more that even simple-sounding ideas like 'enemies that patrol the game world' rapidly turn out to be incredibly complex when you get into the murky details. Enemies take up a lot of your memory budget, so you have to keep track of where to load them in and deload them. You don't want enemies that *actually* follow the player across the entire world, because that would quickly become very unfun, so now you need to block out go/no-go zones. You have to grapple with the fact that the game world is inherently broken up into chunks to make multiplayer sessions feasible. And the Night's Cavalry now need pathing/navmesh capabilities for vastly different kinds of terrain that wasn't designed for them. And this is all while you're trying to make the rest of the game! I think what the retail game does strikes a good balance between being practical and the original idea of some elite force doggedly hunting you down.

[@halcionjoy7]

It makes me feel like they're less competent than I initially thought, since other games have done this years ago. It could be that their engine can't do that idea so easily, but they've had all this time since 2009 to adapt their engine to work with the idea. I guess it just isn't a high priority for them.

[@Black10710]

from software has grown so much and still has the potential to do even more

[@parisulki729]

I instantly remembered the Dark Brotherhood assassin from Morrowind. Once player character were to sleep, as soon as they awakened, they'd encounter a strong and sneaky enemy that was here to dispose of them. Which was very memorable

[@parisulki729]

And they would attack you in a similar way throughout the game. Imagine same thing in Elden ring, you fought the boss, and once you sit at certain grace, an enemy would appear with sole purpose of assassinating you. And maybe it would be hiding somewhere, and there would be a way for more experienced player to ambush him before triggering this event

[@Quilldax]

This would have made Elden Ring FAR more terrifying. No boundaries and hard locked on you imagine adding a no grace mechanic during the chase. And each kill of the calvary would make a stronger one appear next time.

[@teaganpatel3790]

I think that they should have done a Yiga Clan-esque approach, where after defeating Margit, the Cavalry can randomly appear near you at night and attack you. Defeating the Cavalry would give you an Ash of War at random from a select pool, and you’d only get duplicates after the pool has been emptied. This could keep their importance as bearers of AoWs.

[@LlamaPotato]

I'm glad you posted about this because I had the weirdest thing happen with this enemy type and I don't know if anyone has seen it. Black fireball incantation dealing a deathblow on a jumping blacknight carvery horse not only insta kills the ridder but makes the horse itself an invincible but still interactive NPC just hanging out. Its incredibly odd but I caught it and uploaded the clip for proof.

[@Kurorahk]

Honestly their horses look more like a large mass of tree roots from that texture, which is befitting their grace still being with them. Agents of the Elden Tree.

[@sqwid12]

THAT HORSE SCARED THE SHIT OUT OF ME WHEN THE CLOTH CAME OFF

[@petsan97]

I can just imagine the terror they would have inspired. It gives a very "Subnautica" feel, where the primary big threat, the Reaper Leviathan, is coded to always know where you are, and when you go into certain regions it immediately starts stalking you, first staying in the distance, roaring and letting you catch ocational glimpses of it, before striking hard and fast. Absolutely sublime sense of terror.

[@kristoffer3075]

God damn. I never knew this, and now I'm really glad I finished Subnautica already because I don't think I would have played it if I'd known that.

[@petsan97]

@@kristoffer3075 It's so terrifyingly effective isn't it.

[@realQuestion]

They do patrol chokepoints like bridges and narrow passes, so it works well enough

[@ghostlyswat12]

Imagine it your chilling in a area and you know there’s not many enemies there’s so you relax and let your guard down and boom a knight shows up taking you by surprise

[@JakeMac96]

I really want them to keep trying with this concept, I think it could add so much tension to a playthrough. Like a mr x-type enemy appearing when you are low on health or in a big fight.

[@doom7850]

From the thumbnail and knowing other stuff fromsoft has been trying to do, I assumed the topic would be about a mounted enemy that can also fight you off the mount, which is also technically impressive

[@_dibbs]

never knew the kings field ost slapped like this

[@Crackhed1]

The initial design of the wandering reoccurring enemy idea reminds me of the Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor/War games, where orc/uruk captains (boss type enemy) can sometimes hunt you down when you are just exploring and wandering around or even ambush you in the middle of a big fight, all completely unscripted. Some people may dislike it, but I love this type of design.

[@EvilBakaCat]

I really like the idea of an enemy that searches for you and trys to hunt you down, I hope they finally make it work somtime.

[@marc.vonwyl]

Following this concept, Sulyvahn's outrider knights in DS3 come to mind.

[@bigdog517]

its the from soft way a concept cyclically doomed to start as a great ambitious idea for an enemy over time watered down by time money and dev constraints, yet remains an awesome enemy in each iteration

[@CryonicDragon]

To this day the black Knights are the most memorable minibosses from ever created. The design in my eyes is flawless. I figured they went the same way with the crucible Knights and even though I rocked that set and the blade of odorvis in my playthrough the black Knights are still superior.

[@duhmonke]

The idea of Black Knights actually truly wandering in Dark Souls sounds terrifying and amazing.

[@schnellio]

when margit says “the hands of the fell omen shall brook thee no quarter” i thought he just meant we were gonna catch his fade lol

[@byzantinephilosopher]

That wondering black knights idea sounds terrifying

[@user-lb1mv6kh7r]

The closest they got to the wandering/pursuing enemy concept was the Forlorn in DS2: SotFS

[@motojauntx]

“Is this too easy?” -the Pursuer, Happy Souls ❤️

[@walterwhite7376]

A Mr. X in a Dark Souls game will be the most haunting thing ever in gaming history. I can easily imagine an enemy like that in a Dark Souls castle area coming after our asses and has a mimic ability as a bonfire.

[@Wolfy400]

I wonder if this idea of a wandering enemy that hunts you down could have inspired how the bell bearing hunter works, moving from area to area

[@NevTheDeranged]

The original Grim Reaper design is probably an homage to Death in the old Gauntlet series, who would, in fact, follow you around relentlessly until one of you was defeated.

[@Prettyboysad]

I think their mini boss status and only finding them at night makes them super unique and one of the few repeat bosses that actually makes sense… and it’s not confirmed that’s what Margit mean yes they were ONCE working for him but it’s not clear if they are anymore. Great video as always ❤️ I think something actively chasing you down would be very annoying considering the amount of passive exploration necessary for most quest… imagine trying to complete a quest and a random powerful enemy starts hounding you that would be incredibly annoying

[@hammerth1421]

Minecraft has phantoms spawn near you if you haven't used a bed for too long. Phantoms are actually really important late-game since they drop an item needed to repair elytras which allow you to glide. I wonder if a Soulsborne game could do something similar, maybe a curse you acquire through a quest and have to cleanse by advancing that quest.

[@ETBrooD]

I'd love an individual enemy that wanders a larger section of the map and that way randomly encounters you in many different places. It's a great concept in theory. Another fun idea would be a true nemesis who keeps stalking you. In Elden Ring, you're always pursuing your enemies. Turning it around would be a hell of a lot of fun.

[@Spookhunter7]

Kings Field ost is a mood very fitting.

[@grambalt3780]

Feels like the forlorn knight randomly invading you through the DS2 game is also an attempt to do a somewhat "wandering" ennemy

[@sacredgeometry]

It works just fine. The nights cavalry were some of the coolest moments in elden ring for me.

[@nobuffer101]

If there was a Night Cavalry main boss with a cutscene and everything, that would've been so badass. Imagine, entering an area at night, a cutscene plays, and out of where a group of Night Cavalrymen emerges from the shadows to encircle you, only to be stopped by the leader of the group appointed by Morgott approaching you like the Nazgul did Frodo.

[@The_Joestar]

Just imagine, the sun just set beyond the horizon, the land has turned pitch black. Then, far off in the distance you hear a loud and terrifying neigh. You lower your head and sigh. 'Not again, I just barely managed to kill the last one. Let me rest just for once please' As the sound of thundering hooves is becoming louder and louder.

[@night1952]

Stalker/wandering enemies are just a really fun concept

[@内田ガネーシュ]

Almost like Guts being branded and surrounded by demons at night.

[@soulinker3895]

I remember my first encounter with these guys (on a then-blind playthrough). It was scary to see an all-black horseman chasing you with that fast

[@akosbella6708]

I can't imagine an actively pursuing enemy with the bonefire's resetting mechanic.

[@CaffeineFellow]

morgott gasses these guys up as if he’s sending John wick after you

[@pawfector9463]

Gosh, what an awesome idea for From Software to strive towards. It would make their appearing a lot more exciting and scary at the same time. It would most certainly give off the Nazgul impression if they were wandering the Lands Between looking for the Tarnished who is trying to become the Elden Lord, like how they were looking for Frodo in LOTR. Wow! Thanks a ton for this video, Zullie.

[@Witchhunter_Salem]

I's say that the pursuer was the closest we got to perfection since is a boss that actually inspires fear (specially if you encounter him in the tutorial area or the rooftops before his actual fight), I think the best we could've gone about this is mapping this types of bosses to have unlimited follow range within an specific area of the game kinda how resident evil does with their bosses( best example would be the the tyrant from 2 remake during the police station area) in this fashion they avoid having to map an enemy the follows you and stalks you through the whole map because that would be some insane work. Hopefully they will perfect this dynamic because it would fit the gameplay a lot and it would make it 10x more thrilling.

[@dxdxdxdxdxd7125]

oh now i want the Pusuer eagle drop after you just exited the bonfire, i mean grace menu, he would suit so well into the lore with his Stormhawk carrying him and he will use gravity magick to levitate, he has all of his opponent's weapons on his back, and he is in pursuit of a worthy combatant.

[@AlkisGD]

1:58 - “The hands of the Fell Omen shall brook thee no quarter.” … unless you sprint for a few dozen yards. Then they'll give up and go back to patrolling the same tiny patch of road, like ghosts tethered to their murder site.

[@sonokawaray]

I never would have made the connection between Margit and the Night's Cavalry, or that Margit's "we will meet again" speech was him saying he was going to have them start hunting us down. Maybe if the first time you met one we heard his voice from afar giving the order to attack us, or something to that effect. Between that and his mini-boss appearance outside Leyndell, it would have made for a neat feeling where throughout your adventure you know Morgott's always watching your progress and sending things your way to try to stop you, kinda like Aku in Samurai Jack.

[@trevorweisberg8470]

Even in the case of the night's cavalry being wandering enemies that hunt the player down, they would probably still appear only at night...and you can control the time of day at a grace. So even if they perfected it the looming threat of these things stalking you is neutered.

[@alanolex3962]

Not only do they resemble the Nazgul, but the armor of the Night's Cavalry themselves has a really close resemblance to a character from D&D's Dragonlance setting named Lord Soth.

[@spookyjohn6543]

That whole "nemesis enemy" idea reminds me of the forlorn invader, i think its the closest they got soo far

[@BogBilberryBagginsAGD]

It took me this long to figure out that you can make your own duo boss by fighting Ekzykes at night